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| Tuesday, 4 May 2004 |
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Cracks appear in India's ruling party's campaign LUCKNOW, India, Monday (Reuters) India's ruling coalition, alarmed by exit polls that show it may not retain a majority in the ongoing election, dropped its "feel-good" campaign on Monday and said the opposition would end the nation's economic boom. The president of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's party said the opposition Congress party had failed in nearly 50 years of power since independence and would fail the people again if it won. The fourth phase of the five-stage elections will be held on Wednesday, with exit polls showing Congress doing far better than predicted in the early rounds. Vajpayee's coalition will get the highest number of seats but may not get a majority, they say. Results will be announced on May 13. "We are the highway to development. They are the speed-humps," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Venkaiah Naidu told reporters in the city of Lucknow, referring to Congress. "I want to appeal to the people that before they cast their votes they should think about how good the opposition is. They have been a failure even as an opposition." Wednesday's vote is crucial to the BJP's fortunes because it offers a chance for the party to improve on its performance in the 1999 election, particularly in the heartland state of Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous and politically most important. Vajpayee is one of more than 900 candidates competing for 83 seats on Wednesday. He is expected to easily retain his seat in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh's capital. |
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