BJP's 'Chunavi Mahasangram'

          New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will kick off a massive electoral campaign across the country today on the occasion of its foundation day. Top party leaders, including Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, will address meetings across the length and breadth of the country. Vajpayee will lead the charge at a public meeting in Guwahati, Assam's main city. Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, who is currently undertaking the second phase of his over month-long Bharat Uday Yatra, will address rallies in Ayodhya, Basti, Khalilabad, Gorakhpur and Kasiya in Uttar Pradesh. BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu will undertake a similar exercise in Rajkot, Daman, Selvasa and Diu. In all, it is expected that the party leaders and their supporters will address nearly 100 public meetings.

          The high-pitched campaign seeks to capitalize on the ruling National Democratic Alliance's "feel good" factor. Party bigwigs have titled Tuesday's campaign as "Chunavi Mahasangram" or the "Mother of all Electoral Battles", adding that the focus will be on development, good governance and Prime Minister Vajpayee's leadership. Achievements on the economic front, foreign policy, education, employment and infrastructure of the first non-Congress government to complete a five-year term at the Centre will also be highlighted. The party is also planning to hold over 300 rallies and public meetings before the first and the second phase of polling for the Lok Sabha elections i.e. April 20 and 26.

Rajapakse for greater Indian role in peace process (Go To Top)

          Colombo: Sri Lanka's new Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse on Tuesday called for greater Indian involvement in the island's peace process with Tamil Tiger rebels. Rajapakse, 58, said he wanted neighbouring India to play a role in the island's peace efforts, but did not specify how he wanted New Delhi to get involved. "We must get India's involvement," he told reporters at his home here just before leaving for his official swearing-in ceremony. He did not elaborate. India had been supportive of the Norwegian-backed peace process, but has refused a hands-on approach after New Delhi's bitter experience of deploying troops in the island and ending up fighting rebels between 1987 and 1990.

          Earlier, President Chandrika Kumaratunga namedRajapakse, a veteran of her Freedom Alliance Party (UFP), as the 13th Prime Minister of the country. Kumaratunga, whose party fell eight seats short of an absolute majority in the parliament, agreed to nominate Rajapakse after his supporters put forward his claim over that of her favourite - former foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, who is widely credited for garnering international support against the Tamil Tigers. Rajapakse, however, scored over Kadirgamar for his wide support base among party workers. Kadirgamar, who entered the parliament in 1994 as a nominated legislator, is not known to be a grassroots politician. Kumaratunga's party won 105 seats in the 225-member assembly, and was forming a minority government. Voting to elect a new parliament in the island-nation took place last Friday amid tight security. It was the third parliamentary election in the country in the last four years. Opinion polls had showed Kumaratunga's UPF as having a slight edge over Wickremesinghe's UNP.

US to give Pak six C-130 planes (Go To Top)

          Islamabad: Pakistan is set to receive six C-130 military transport aircraft from the United States by the end of this year. Pakistan Air Force sources were quoted by the Dawn as saying that both countries had already worked out the modalities for the delivery of the aircraft, which is a part of a 75 million dollar agreement signed in late 2002 after Pakistan assumed a key role in the US-led war against terrorism. Islamabad, which was granted non-NATO ally status by the United States last month, has already discussed with the US a long shopping list which includes a variety of equipment and spares for the hardware Pakistan's three services are using. Pakistan's defence needs were discussed during two rounds of Pakistan-US Defense Consultative Group (DCG) meetings held in Islamabad and Washington last year. A major sticking point has been the delivery of over two dozen multi-role F-16 aircraft, which the US has been withholding since October 1990. This forced Islamabad to purchase Chinese F-7s, F-7PGs and A-5 aircrafts, in addition to aging American F-16s and French Mirages from the late 80s.