Balladur elbowed

PARIS - Conservative leader Jacques Chirac yesterday reacted coolly to calls for a joint campaign ticket with his rival presidential hopeful, Prime Minister Edouard Balladur. A day after Mr Balladur implicitly described him as a loser in the most bruising battle between the two men so far, Mr Chirac appeared anxious to distance himself from his probable opponent for the nomination of the Gaullist RPR party. Asked about calls from within the party that he run as president with Mr Balladur as his designated prime minister, Mr Chirac signalled that the idea had long ceased to be relevant. 'I don't think it was necessarily the worst solution,' he said. Reuter