The Times of India News Service
Times of India
August 28, 1999
Title: Gandhi's granddaughter joins BJP to fight Sonia Author: The Times of India News Service Publication: Times of India Date: August 28, 1999 BANGALORE: The BJP has roped in Sumitra Gandhi Kulkarni, the granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, to counter Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Bellary. Ms Kulkarni, who formally joined the party in Bangalore on Thursday, told reporters: ``As Congress president, Ms Gandhi might have a right to contest elections, but to be an MP, one should represent Indian ethos.'' On Ms Gandhi's claim that she was as Indian as anybody else, Ms Kulkarni remarked: ``For over a decade after marrying Rajiv Gandhi, she did not become a citizen. She became a citizen only after she entered politics and we welcome it. But one does not imbibe Indian ethos merely by signing citizenship papers. For this, one should be born in India.'' Ms Gandhi's foreign origin, she said, was not as big an issue as her lack of experience. ``We are talking about understanding India, her people, issues and villages.'' Should there be a law to prevent people of foreign origin from holding high posts? ``The BJP might be speaking about this now, but I took this up long ago, not today.'' Though Ms Kulkarni did not specify when she would go to Bellary, she said: ``I will go whenever the party wants me to.'' As a member of the BJP, Ms Kulkarni said her agenda would be to promote the cause of secularism consistent with the need for a rapid emancipation of the masses. At present, she claimed, the BJP was the only party which appreciated the concerns of Indians without dividing them on the basis of caste, creed or status. ``The vote-bank politics of some national parties has effectively buried secularism. The time has come for us to put an end to the creation and use of vote banks which has created a new divisive monster of casteism,'' she added.
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