The Hindu : Antony's politics deserves appreciation: BJP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 16, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Antony's politics deserves appreciation: BJP

By Our Special Correspondent

KOZHIKODE MARCH 15. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president, P.S. Sreedharan Pillai, today joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) leadership in praising the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony. He said, "the politics he practises is certainly different from that of his partymen."

Mr. Sreedharan Pillai was speaking at a press conference here today. When mediapersons drew his attention to the praise reported to have been lavished by the RSS leadership on Mr. Antony at its recent annual general council meeting held in Jaipur, Mr. Sreedharan Pillai initially tried to duck the question saying that he was not present at the RSS meeting at which Mr. Antony came in for praise.

But, later, he said that Mr. Antony had to his credit many plus points as a politician as well as a person. One was that he had been forthright in expressing his views on minorities. Though it had generated strong protests, he had not so far withdrawn what he had said. Another was that unlike the senior Congress leader, K. Karunakaran, he had no ambitions to perpetuate his dynastic rule in State politics.

In that respect Mr. Antony's brand of politics deserved appreciation, the BJP leader said. But he was also quick to add that his party had not yet discussed Mr. Antony's worth as a politician. Reacting to the announcement made by Janata Dal (U) that it would field its own candidates in the Lok Sabha polls in the State, he made it clear that the parties which represented the NDA in the State were mainly the BJP and the IFDP.

A BJP candidate would contest from Kozhikode even though the JD(U) had announced that its candidate would contest under the NDA banner. He reiterated his contention that the blame for not getting enough assistance for drought relief rested squarely on the State Government. In his view, the Government and its officials had played a cruel joke on the people by failing to present a strong case before the Centre for drought relief.

As soon as the Indian Meteorological Department forecast a drought, the Governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had prepared a strong case for aid from the national disaster special funds. As a result, these Governments received fairly good compensation for the loss caused by drought.

The Kerala Government did not do so and had to be content with a smaller amount as aid. This was not the first time the State Government had bungled on this issue. In 2002-2003, out of about Rs. 55 crores received for drought relief work, only Rs 7 crores was spent, while the rest remained unutilised.

The BJP leader alleged that the funds received for relief work was used in Muvattupuzha constituency to improve the victory chances of the son of a Minister who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP leader declined to comment on the IUML fielding business magnet, P.V. Abdul Wahab, as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha election. "It is the prerogative of a party to choose its candidate for the Rajya Sabha," he remarked.

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