BJP opposes PM's talks with Musharraf

DEHRADUN: Striking an anti-Pakistan posture once again, the BJP on Sunday opposed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's scheduled meeting with President Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of the NAM summit in Havana on September 15-16, saying there should be no dialogue with Islamabad until it destroys terror camps on its soil.

The saffron party also sought to revive Congress president Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin issue ahead of the assembly elections in four states, including Uttar Pradesh, where it is making a desperate bid to become a key player.

Addressing a press conference after conclusion of the party's national executive here, BJP president Rajnath Singh opposed the Prime Minister's scheduled meeting with Musharraf and declared that "in the current situation and under no circumstances can the party favour such talks. We oppose them."

In the wake of blasts in Mumbai and Malegaon, Singh maintained there should be no talks with Pakistan till it destroys terror camps on its soil.

He said it would be "inappropriate" to carry forward the dialogue and even confidence-building measures (CBMs) with Pakistan under the current situation.

Expressing concern over the presence of terror camps also in Bangladesh, the BJP chief said Dhaka should take measures to destroy them.

PM rejects BJP's demand on meeting with Musharraf

V S Chandrasekar / On board pm's special flight

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday virtually rejected BJP's demand that he should not meet Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in Havana during the NAM Summit.

"We will cross the bridge when we come to it," was his initial response when journalists accompanying him on his two-nation trip to Brazil and Cuba asked him about BJP President Rajnath Singh's demand.

When a reporter referred to plans for the meeting between him and Musharraf on the margins of the two-day NAM Summit in Havana from September 15, Singh said "some efforts are being made."

Asked specifically whether he would meet Musharraf or not, the Prime Minister said "hopefully".

"In case Bangladesh and Pakistan require any assistance from India, the Indian government should extend such help to destroy those camps," he added.

On the Vande Mataram row and the absence of Gandhi at an event commemorating the national song on September 7, Singh alleged that the Congress president may have been able to associate herself with politics but could not do so with the country's pride and honour.

Replying to a question as to why the BJP had initiated the peace process with Pakistan when in power, Singh insisted the then NDA government moved ahead with the task only after Musharraf promised to destroy terror camps in his country.

Rajnath Singh also utilised the opportunity to target the Left parties, which he alleged were interfering with foreign policy issues.

Citing the Prime Minister's decision to visit communist Cuba himself and depute Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee for the UN General Assembly meeting, the BJP leader alleged both the moves showed the influence of the Left on foreign policy.

"Indeed, what the country is having now is a proxy foreign policy," he remarked.

A day after senior leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee praised his leadership signalling a second term as BJP president for him, Rajnath announced plans to hold an event on November 7 at Nai Hati in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, the birthplace of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee who wrote the national song that became a war cry of the freedom movement.

Ahead of Assembly elections in several states, including Uttar Pradesh, the BJP president also announced a series of other programmes stretching until January 26 to reach out to its core Hindutva consituency on the plank of cultural nationalism.

Without directly referring to the foreign origin of Gandhi, he alleged in several ways that the Congress president was alien to Indian culture.

"People of the country are wondering whether she has really become an Indian or not," he said adding Gandhi's staying away from an event commemorating Vande Mataram in Delhi on September 7 "has certainly given strength to the separatist mindset".

Alleging that it was a "deliberate and not casual decision" of Gandhi to stay away from the programme, he said it was strange that the Congress president, who issues statements on small and sundry matters, did not feel it proper to say anything on this vital issue.

"Gandhi's action also reflect the Congress soft approach towards fundamentalist forces," he said, adding the BJP would launch a nationwide campaign from September 25 to October 2 to "awaken the spirit of nationalism and to expose the pseudo-secularists".

Singh, who pledged his party would give a tough response to terror if voted to power at the Centre, accused the ruling UPA of soft approach towards terrorism, the spate of terror strikes and recovery of a large quantity of rocket launchers in Mehboob Nagar.

The BJP leader, whose party faced with internal feud, however, declined to name the candidate for the Chief Minister's post in Uttaranchal in an apparent attempt to prevent any possible intra-party rivalry ahead of the state polls.

"The decision will be taken by the parliamentary board of the party," he remarked.

He laughed away questions as to Vajpayee's comment that old leaders should not be written off because of age.