Successor to Vajpayee after five years, says Naidu Saturday, April 17 2004 09:17 Hrs (IST)
Bilaspur (C'garh):
A day after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee disclosed that the line of succession after him has been decided in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), party president M Venkaiah Naidu today (Apr 16, 2004) claimed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would return to power and the successor will be decided after five years.
"The NDA is returning to power at the Centre with two-third majority and it (successor) will be discussed after five years," Naidu said.
Asked whether Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani was the successor of Vajpayee, Naidu said, "It will be discussed after five years."
Naidu claimed that the "current Congress is not the Congress of Mahatma Gandhi", as the "party had deviated from its principles".
"The party had deviated from its policies, because of which even members from the Nehru family like Maneka and Varun Gandhi had left it," he said at Bilaspur.
Addressing public meetings at Bilaspur and Raigarh, Naidu came down heavily on Congress, saying the country had failed to develop due to the wrong policies of the party.
"Congress is responsible for the growth of terrorism in Kashmir, the naxal menace in Andhra Pradesh and other violent activities including to be filed along with heir documents.
As per rules, the nomination papers of the candidates, who do not submit their affidavits (which includes their declaration of assets as also their records of any criminal antecedence, if any), would be cancelled during scrutiny, he added.