Vajpayee's Lucknow rally called off

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will file his nomination papers from Lucknow on April 15 sans any pomp and show in the wake of Monday's tragedy.
 

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Over 20 women were killed on Monday when a stampede broke out in a park in Lucknow where senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Vajpayee's campaign manager, Lalji Tandon, was distributing sarees to mark his birthday.

"There will be no celebrations. It will be a simple and toned down affair. A public meeting scheduled for that day has been cancelled," party spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters in New Delhi.

The party's state unit has washed its hands off the incident and asked the opposition the parties to refrain from making political capital of it.

The Election Commission is likely to get a report from the district administration about the report in a day or two.

"All political parties should adopt a humanitarian approach. It is regrettable that political parties are trying to draw political mileage and politicise the issue," Naqvi said and added that the BJP had nothing to do with the "private function."