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Vajpayee's fall floors BJP plans in Goa

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji

The collapse of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government at the Centre has created confusion among all political parties in Goa, which goes to poll next month.

The most confused, of course, is the BJP. Its plan to face the election with help from big brother in Delhi has now gone haywire. As for its 12-day 'Parivartan yatra,' which was scheduled to start from April 19, that has been postponed by a week.

However, the BJP leaders here do put up a brave face. "The developments in Delhi will not hamper our prospects in Goa," claimed Shripad Naik, the party's chief ministerial candidate.

Then why, scribes ask him, has been the yatra (march) postponed? Naik doesn't have a ready answer.

Meanwhile, sources said the BJP feels it improper to go to the people when even its cadre is confused about what happened in Delhi. In order to boost their morale, it now plans to generate a sympathy wave.

The Congress, for its part, is trying to play it safe. It claims that it didn't have anything to do with the April 15 incident.

"We are not responsible for the fall of the central government," declared Goa Pradesh Congress Committee chief Luizinho Faleiro. According to him the BJP-led coalition had collapsed under its own weight.

The Congress has, further, strengthened its attack on the BJP, reminding the people of the attacks on minorities and blaming the party for the ongoing economic recession.

The BJP leadership was planning to woo the voters with assurances from Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. During the party's national executive held in Panaji this month, the local unit had sought monetary assistance for an environment master plan, round-the-clock airport facility and even a football academy. In fact, the BJP rally was literally converted into an election campaign meeting with central leaders promising everything possible, even as they attacked the Congress and the politics of defection in Goa.

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