BELLARY, SEPT 1: In his first direct attack on Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today asserted that the people were apprehensive that the nation's security would be threatened if a person of foreign origin headed the government of the country.Addressing his first election meeting in this constituency from where his main political adversary Gandhi is contesting, Vajpayee also took exception to her filing nomination in a hush-hush manner saying India was a democracy and there was no need for such secrecy which even kept the security personnel in the dark.Vajpayee said he had nothing personal against Gandhi ``but people think the nation's security is under threat if any foreigner becomes a Prime Minister. They feel it is against national interest and a change is required in the constitution (to bar it)."He said neither the BJP nor its allies had raised the issue of Gandhi being a foreigner. "It were the people in Congress who raised the issue.``(Sharad) Pawar, (Purno) Sangma and (Tariq) Anwar raised the issue. Only then, others supported it," he told the meeting which was also addressed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.The opposition to Gandhi's leaderhip was not just confined to her being a foreigner, he said it also related to her lack of experience."I sat in the opposition for 40 years and have reached this position step by step," he said apparently disapproving of her sudden rise to the political firmament of the country.Addressing a press conference and an election meeting in Andhra Pradesh, Vajpayee charged the Congress with being a destablising factor in the country's politics by having pulled down the Deve Gowda and Gujaral governments it had supported and then forming an ``unprincipled'' alliance to vote out his own government by a solitary vote despite no viable alternative in sight.Hitting out at Congress for its criticism of the government on the Kargil issue, he said it was for the first time during the conflict that the country did not surrender an inch."India has gone to war many times and won and lost. Even during our victory, we have conceded one or the other thing to Pakistan. We gave away one-third of Kashmir, the Haji Peer."During the Bangladesh war in 1971, we took 90,000 Pakistanis as prisoners of war (PoWs). I then told Indira Gandhi that we should solve the Jammu and Kashmir issue once and for all. But no such thing happened and it is still a burning issue."Blaming the Congress-led opposition for creating an unstable situation in the country, the Prime Minister said Pakistan took advantage of this situation to send intruders into the country.
