Shillong: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's offer of peace talks with Pakistan should not be misconstrued as a step taken with keeping an eye to the forthcoming elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national vice president Pyarelal Khandelwal said on May 15.

"We want peace with neighbours. But we have stuck to our own line that cross border terrorism must end before such talks. There is no question of Parliamentary election involved in Vajpayee's offer of peace talks with Pakistan," Khandelwal told reporters.

"Where are the Parliamentary elections now? It is a year from now," shot back Khandelwal when asked whether preparations for the Lok Sabha polls were on.

On militant camps in Bangladesh, he said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre held talks with Dhaka asking it to take steps to shut them down to end cross border terrorism.

Even Bhutan and Myanmar were also urged in this regard, he said, claiming that previous governments did precious little on this.

Khandelwal, along with the party's in charge of North East V Satish are in Shillong for a day long BJP workers' meeting.

PTI