'Cong position pitiable'

Vajpayee asked Sonia Gandhi not to bother about his party but instead worry about her own.

Prime Minister A B Vajpayee on Wednesday asked Congress President Sonia Gandhi not to bother about his party but instead worry about her own.

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Reacting to Gandhi raising the question of his successor, Vajpayee told a public meeting here this evening: 'It is laughable to raise this question. I wish to tell you need not bother about us. You worry about your own party'.

'There is no struggle for power in our party history,' he said while seeking the support of the electorate for the BJP-AIADMK candidates in Coimbatore, Nilgiris and Pollachi.

Vajpayee said the position of the Congress party was 'pitiable' in the elections since it was fighting for its own survival rather than forming a Government.

Addressing an election meeting here this evening, he asked whether the Communists and small parties could provide a strong and stable Government in Delhi.

Terming the Congress-DMK alliance as "political opportunism of the highest order", the Prime Minister said that after linking DMK to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the Congress had once again joined hands with the same party. People raise serious doubts whether Congress was serious about the memory of Rajiv Gandhi.

Those opposed to the NDA have no common platform, manifesto or leader. But they say they want to defeat NDA, Vajpayee said. 'What you are going to tell the people? What you will replace the NDA with. Tell us, who will be part of the Government and who is the Prime Minister,' he said.