October 26, 2003	Sunday	Sha’aban 29, 1424

ALMATY, Oct 25: Dariga Nazarbayeva, eldest daughter of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, was named leader of a new political party on Saturday, but she brushed aside suggestions that she plans to step into her father’s shoes.

“In every person’s life there’s a point where it’s necessary to step forward courageously and meet one’s destiny — we have reached that moment,” Nazarbayeva said at the founding conference of the Asar (All Together) party in this oil-rich former Soviet republic.

Asar, based on a social organisation which Nazarbayeva established earlier this year, will pursue centrist policies in line with her father’s “Kazakhstan 2030” development plan, she told the meeting at an opera house.

Ms Nazarbayeva has made a name for herself through acclaimed performances of operatic arias in Kazakhstan and neighbouring Russia, and her first steps in the political arena got a rousing reception from young supporters sporting bright red Asar football shirts and headbands.—AFP