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(4 Sep 1999) Hindi/English/Nat

India goes to polls Sunday to elect a new government.

At the centre of the election campaign this time is Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi's Italian birth and the Kargil conflict with Pakistan.

In an election bereft of any substantive issues, voters are being given a heavy dose of personalised slander against the two prime ministerial candidates.

The final verdict is expected to decide whether Sonia Gandhi's foreign birth will hamper her bid for political leadership in the world's largest democracy.

The great Indian extravaganza -- an election where 605 (m) million voters will cast their ballot in a poll staggered over a month.

Even for the election fatigued Indian voters, this election has been one of the most high-pitched in the country's poll history.

Previous elections had focussed on issues like corruption, unemployment, poverty and the ruling party's performance.

At the centrestage this time is the B-J-P-led coalition's attack on congress party leader Sonia Gandhi's Italian birth.

Many see this election as personality oriented contest where no ideological issues are involved.

Riding a wave of popularity is Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the prime ministerial candidate for the B-J-P-lead coalition, the National Democratic Alliance.

Pitched against him is Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.

In his election speeches, Vajpayee has been attacking the Congress as a party bereft of any real issue.

He says Congress party is responsible for creating political instability in the country.

SOUNDBITE: (Hindi)
"Congress has made alliances without any principles. They conspired to dislodge my government. They have no agenda - they have no program for the welfare of the people."
SUPER CAPTION: Atal Bihari Vajpayee, caretaker prime minister

While Vajpayee has stopped short of actually raising the issue of Sonia's foreign birth openly, for his partymen it has become the main plank of their campaign.

They have attacked Sonia as unfit to be Prime Minister because she was born in Italy and has little political experience.

SOUNDBITE: (Hindi)
"Would you choose a government and a leader who has performed so wonderfully despite his short stint in power or would you accept a party whose leadership does not belong to this land, who has no concern for this country's problems and who has no experience of public life?"
SUPER CAPTION: L.K. Advani, BJP leader

For the Congress party, this election is crucial for its political future.

After being in power for nearly four decades, its fortunes have floundered.

Its star campaigner Sonia Gandhi has made political stability the main issue of campaigning.

Her campaign makes most of her ties with the Nehru-Gandhi family and her speeches are full of references to the sacrifices made by her husband Rajiv Gandhi and mother-in-law Indira Gandhi.

She has countered the charge of her foreign birth by saying that the people of India will decide whether they accept her as a true Indian or not.

She says coalition governments in the last few years have failed to provide governance and only Congress party can provide a stable government.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Stability is the main issue. We have seen that coalition governments have not been able to manage - in particular the last coalition government , the present caretaker government in the last 13 - 14 months. As far as we are concerned , they have failed miserably."
SUPER CAPTION: Sonia Gandhi , Congress Party President

The recent conflict with Pakistan in Kargil is also providing explosive political ammunition in the tussle for power.




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