June 11, 2002	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 29, 1423

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NEW DELHI, June 10: India’s ruling coalition will field Dr Abdul Kalam, regarded as the father of the country’s missile programme, in elections for president due next month, a government spokesman said on Monday.

“The prime minister has appealed to all political parties to support the candidature of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam,” Defence Minister George Fernandes told reporters after a meeting of the coalition partners.

The choice of Kalam, a Muslim, came three months after India’s worst communal bloodshed in a decade in Gujarat, where nearly 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed by Hindu mobs.

Vajpayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party, accused of deep-seated bias against Muslims, was slammed for turning a blind eye to the killings of Muslims in Gujarat.

Kalam, 72, was principal scientific adviser to the prime minister until November last year when he quit to pursue an academic career. Earlier, Vajpayee met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to discuss Kalam’s candidature.—Reuters