CHENNAI, Feb 2 (UNI) Spurned by the rival Dravidian parties,the DMK and the AIADMK, the two Dalit parties, Puthiya Tamizhagam (PT) and the Dalit Panthers of India (DPI), today came together to face the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Addressing a joint press conference here, Dr Krishnasamy, the leader of the PT and Thol Thirumavalavan of the DPI, foes turned friends now, however, stopped short of formally announcing that their parties would contest the polls as a joint front.
"We will come out with a Common Minimum Programme and decide in ten days whether to contest the elections or not," they said.
The leaders said the two parties would from now on would work together for the welfare of Dalits, other poorer sections of the society and social harmony.
Strongly criticising DMK president M Karunanidhi, they alleged that his refusal to accommodate the Dalit parties in the DMK-headed 'Democratic Progressive Alliance' only exposed his false concern for Dalits.
In the 2001 elections to Tamil Nadu assembly, both the PT and the DPI were part of the DMK-led alliance.
While the PT which contested ten seats drew a blank, the DPI, fielding eight candidates, managed one seat when Thrimavalavan emerged victorious.
Interim budget today NEW DELH, Feb 2 (UNI) Finance minister Jaswant Singh will present the Interim General Budget in the LSk sabha tomorrow at 1200 hrs and after discussion by both houses, it will be passed on February five.
Parliamentary affairs minister Sushma Swaraj told reporters that as per an understanding on the agenda reached with the opposition, the Lok Sabha will debate the Railway Budget in the afternoon on February 3.
Railway minister Nitish Kumar will reply to the budget after a four-hour discussion in the Lok Sabha on the same day.
In the Rajya Sabha, Nitish Kumar would reply to the debate on February 4.
The Lok Sabha will take up discussion on the general budget on February 4 and after a six-hour debate, the finance minister will reply on the same day.
The Upper House will take up discussion on the budget on February 5.
After passing the Interim Budget (General, Railways) and finance bill and other exingency business, both houses will adjourn on February 5.
As per the advise of the union cabinet, the president is likely to dissolve the 13th Lok Sabha on February 6, paving the way for fresh elections to be held in April-May.
Lok Sabha results may be on lines of 1977: Advani NEW DELHI, Feb 2 (UNI) Deputy prime minister LK Advani today said there was a possibility that the Lok Sabha poll results this time would be on the lines of 1977 elections held after the emergency.
"This shall not surprise anybody as it is expected that the BJP may win more seats than expected.
In fact the Lok Sabha results will be unexpected like what happened in the 1977 general elections," he said, while addressing the party's core group from Uttar Pradesh at the residence of party president M Venkaiah Naidu here.
The meeting was also addressed by Naidu and party general secretary Pramod Mahajan.
Advani said the results of elections in Uttar Pradesh would be important as the state had 80 seats in the Lok Sabha.
Therefore Uttar Pradesh was significant for the party, he told the core group.
He said it would be the first time that the coming Lok Sabha elections would not be fought on anti-incumbancy factor.
Even after five years of governance there was a wave in favour of the NDA government headed by prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The deputy prime minister, however, cautioned them against becoming complacent by the pre-election surveys which were going in favour of the party.
Advani said the NDA was now stronger than earlier while the opposition was in total disarray.
Significant improvement in the economy and development of infrastructure sector by the NDA government had provided a 'feel good factor' among the masses.
Addressing the gathering, Mahajan, however, asked them not to pay much attention to the outcome of the poll surveys.
The BJP will repeat the performance of the 1991 elections when it had got more than 50 seats despite adverse poll surveys.
"It is possible to repeat the feat this time too," he said.
Naidu exhorted the partymen to work for accomplishing the Mission 2004, to win 300 seats on its own and 2/3rd majority for the NDA.
The responsibility entirely lay on them to achieve the target, he said.
Vajpayee kicks start BJP campaign in South NAGERCOIL, Feb 2 (UNI) Kick starting the BJP's election campaign in the South, prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today promised to usher in a new era of rapid growth in infrastructure development, besides stregthening the 'heart connectivity' to all the people from Kashmir to Kannyakumari.
Addressing a public meeting, organised by the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP here, the prime minister said by 2007, any one could travel by rail or highway from Kannyakumari to Kashmir.
"Railways will roll into Kashmir valley on August 15, 2007," he said.
The government's priority was to build a network of rail and highways connecting all rural areas in the country.
As many as 200,000 villages would be connected within a short period.
"We not only think big, but also implement fast.
In the first 50 years after Independence, only 550 km of four lane road was built at the rate of eleven kilometer per year.
Now we are completing 24,00 km of four lane road at a rate of eleven kilometer per day," he said, adding that 180 million man days of employment was generated through the project.
Fresh from a renewed tie-up with the AIADMK the prime minister announced that the long cherished dream of the people of Tamil Nadu for a better port connectivity with the rest of the ports in the country would be realised with the implementation of the 'Sethusamudra' project.
Similarly, the water shortage in Tamil Nadu would be solved to an extent with the implementation of the river-linking project.
Vajpayee said a lot of preparatory work had been completed on the 'Ganga-Cauveri' river linking project and once implemented 'it holds a great promise for solving the water shortage in Tamil Nadu.' The central government had sanctioned a sum of Rs 50 crore to solve the immediate drinking water shortage in Chennai city.
Referring to the Kashmir issue, he said the threat of bullet could be tackled with the might of ballot to an extent.
"But that doesn't mean that terrorists have stopped their activity.
They are still posing a threat to our country.
However, their activities had been curbed in the recent past." "Though India is on its way to become a major power in the world, we are fully aware that there were many challenges ahead.
Unemployment is the one and a lot more to be done in the sector.
I am confident that with your cooperation, we can solve the problem." Union minister for road transport and highways BC Khanduri, union minister of state for road transport and higways Pon Radhakrishnan, union minister of state for defence O Rajagopal, BJP state president CP Radhakrishnan, MP, and BJP state secretary SR Saravana Perumal were among those present on the occasion.
'Feel good' slogan comes from Raymonds ad: Advani NEW DELHI, Feb 2 (UNI) The elegant catchphrase 'feel good', which the BJP plans to use as its mascot in the coming Lok Sabha elections, was inspired by a prominent garment company advertisement, deputy prime minister LK Advani today revealed.
The origin of the now famous party slogan goes back to an awards function at Mumbai three months ago.
Advani was the chief guest at The Economic Times awards ceremony during which an advertisement of the Raymonds showed a man wearing a suit being asked 'How do you feel'? The man replies, "if it feels heavenly, it must be Raymonds," recalled Advani, who was immensly impressed by it.
"If you ask anybody in the country how he feels and the answer is he is feeling great, he is talking about India 2003," Advani quipped.
The 'feel good' is the response of ordinary Indians across the country today, said Advani while inaugurating Elecrama 2004, an international exhibition of electrical products, here.
The 'feel good' slogan came as an accident, not by design, he said.
In every election, he said, there is some catchphrase, some punch line, some slogan, which becomes a focal point of the whole debate.
Reminiscing about the times of the BJP in opposition, he said the party had given the slogan 'remove Indira Gandhi' when she was the prime minister.
"But she effectively countered our plank by giving the slogan 'Garibi hatao.' It had all the trappings of a phenomenon and we were floored by it."
