BJS Patel gp to contest 25 seats in MP

Jabalpur, Sep 5 (UNI) The Uma Bharti-led Bharatiya Jan Shakti's breakaway faction supremo Prahlad Patel today said that his dispensation would contest 25 assembly seats each in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

''We have had preliminary discussion with Apna Dal, Janata Dal (United) and Gondwana Mukti Sena. Fifteen seats will be left to alliance partners,'' he told mediapersons here during a day-long national executive meeting of his faction.

To a query on which was the true BJS -- his or Ms Bharti's -- Mr Patel said that the matter was before the Election Commission.

''Former premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee should break his silence, in national interest, over the 123 Indo-US Nuclear Agreement. Mr Vajpayee has the maximum experience in foreign policy matters,'' he said while adding that representatives from Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar and other states were taking part in the meeting that would set the faction's strategy besides passing political and economic resolutions.

UNI RG-AC 1740