Panipat, Oct 14: Expressing the NDA government's resolve to firmly deal with criminalisation of politics, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani today said it was planning to bring a comprehensive electoral reforms bill to rid politics of criminal elements. Addressing a BJP rally here, he said under the bill, presently with the parliamentary standing committee, defection by legislators "will be a thing of the past" and the size of the ministry would not exceed one-tenth of the total strength of the legislators.
On Jammu and Kashmir, Advani said the initiatives taken by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government have resulted in marked improvement in the situation in the valley as was evident from the return of the tourists there.
Resumption of talks with Pakistan depended on how the neighbouring country responded to the calls to stop cross-border terrorism, he added.
BJP president Venkaiah Naidu, who also addressed the rally, came down heavily on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and blamed successive Congress governments at the centre for various ills afflicting the nation.
Bureau Report