Dibrugarh: The Congress has no leader who can run the country and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is the only alternative for the nation, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani said today (Apr 24, 2004).

"Vajpayee is the only alternative and he will be the next Prime Minister," Advani said addressing a election rally for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat, Kamakhya Tasha.

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Congress has no leader to run the nation, he said adding, the political scenario in the country changed after the killing of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, it turned towards the BJP.

He asserted that a "New India" would be created by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the country would be a superpower before 2020.

On Indo-Pak relation, he said it was moving towards normalisation and the recent Indian cricket tour to the neighbouring country cemented the relations, "the entire credit of which goes to Vajpayee".

Referring to Northeast, he said Vajpayee paid special attention to the region. "Creation of the special Ministry of DONER for the region is a pointer to Vajpayeeji's concern".

Advani appealed to extremist groups in the region "to eschew violence as the solution to their problems is in the ballot and not bullet".

"They must come to the negotiation table," Advani said adding, "Yesterday I received a call from Tripura that two extremist outfits are eager to talk to me."

Advani, who was on a whirlwind tour of the key upper Assam Lok Sabha constituencies going to the polls on Monday (Apr 26, 2004), credited the BJP for turning the nation into a "politically matured" one. He also quoted a 'Wall Street Journal' editorial praising India's economic might.

He said by 2010 all the roads in six lakh villages would be pucca roads and electricity and water would be made available to all the villages in the country.

The NDA Government has decided there should be a separate Union Ministry for welfare of tribals and special scheduled caste wards to look after their problems, he said.