PM seeks more time to finish tasks

MANDATE 2004/ Vajpayee files nomination papers from Lucknow

The man who just a few months ago had declared that he was neither "tired" nor "retired" today said that he did not like questions being shot at him about when he would step down from office. And he filed his nomination to the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat as a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee just before noon today for the fifth time, because he wanted "more time to complete everything we want to do".

For the record, nearly 80, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is certain to be the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) choice for the Prime Minister if the alliance gets the numbers on May 13, said he had told his friends he did not want to contest the Lok Sabha elections this time, but had to file his papers because of the pressure from the party.

The Prime Minister was flanked by Kalyan Singh, Rajnath Singh, Pramod Mahajan and Sushma Swaraj at the nomination ceremony that was austere and plain, given the backdrop of the killing of 22 women in a stampede caused by sari distribution ceremony, organised by supporters of Lalji Tandon. The Prime Minister's constituency manager and election agent was very much on the podium and was seen introducing speakers at the workers' meeting.

"Give me five more years so that we can complete all the unfinished tasks. We will try to remove the deficiencies," he told party workers, adding that the country had made a lot of progress on the economic front. This was admitted even by the Opposition. "But the goal is still far away and we need more time," he said.

As the Prime Minister filed his nomination, another drama was unfolding on the sidelines. Amid uncertainty over Ram Jethmalani staying in the contest, the Congress announced it was fielding its own candidate, Akhilesh Das, a Rajya Sabha member, from Lucknow. Das, the son of one of UP's most famous chief ministers, BD Gupta, said he would withdraw if Jethmalani decided to stay in the contest.

The Prime Minister had issued an appeal to Jethmalani yesterday invoking their 40-year-old friendship to ask him to opt out of the fight. Jethmalani, meanwhile has jetted off to London, and although he said it was his national duty to fight the elections, he injected an element of uncertainty in the proceedings, prompting the Congress to file a cover candidate.

Lucknow now has the Samajwadi Party candidate Madhu Gupta, Akhilesh Das who is the official Congress candidate and Ram Jethmalani, the common Opposition-backed candidate in the fray. Withdrawals are scheduled to take place on April 19.

The Prime Minister gave no hint of anxiety or hesitation as to the outcome of the results of the polls when he addressed workers. He said a stable government at the Centre alone would ensure faster progress of the country.

The country had entered the age of coalition, Vajpayee said, and if one party did not get a majority in the polls, it should try to forge alliance with others to run the government. The Congress did not believe in this.

"In a democracy, differences may crop up but there are ways to resolve them," he said. This was a clear hint to workers that in the NDA's bid to form a government no one would be treated as an untouchable.

The Prime Minister also gave short interviews to several UP-based newspapers, apparently to leverage his filing his nomination. In an interview to Dainik Jagaran, for instance, he said the US decision to give 'Major non-NATO Ally (MNNA) status to Pakistan was not "something big" but the objectionable part was that India was kept in the dark about it.

He discounted reports that the revival of cricketing links between the two countries would have had a bearing on electoral prospects.

"Everybody was concerned that no untoward incident should take place (during the ongoing cricket matches). But no incident has occurred. It is quite evident that if both sides move with caution, the relations can move ahead in the trying times without causing any damage," he said. Vajpayee said the US had made a strategic mistake in embarking on military action in Iraq.