The Hindu : Kerala News : Left will play a key role after poll: Veliyam

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Saturday, Apr 24, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Left will play a key role after poll: Veliyam

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 23. The CPI State secretary, Veliyam Bhargavan, has said that given the possibility of a fractious verdict, the Left parties would be called upon to play a crucial role in the next Lok Sabha.

Participating in `Janavidhi-2004', a meet-the-press programme organised by the Kesari Memorial Journalists' Trust here today, Mr. Bhargavan said there was no question of the CPI or the other Left parties supporting the Congress form a Government at the Centre as long as there was no change in the Congress' economic policies. Admitting that the Left parties had entered into seat adjustments with the Congress in some parts of the country to defeat the BJP, he said there was no question of the Left forming an alliance with the Congress or the CPI joining a possible Congress-led Government.

The CPI leader said the Lok Sabha election would be used by the people of Kerala as an opportunity to express their ire at the Antony Government, which had failed miserably on all fronts. Barring the education and health sectors, no other sector had witnessed any Government activity and even in these two sectors the Government's focus was on commercialisation causing severe hardship to the people, he said.

According to him, even Congressmen were fed up with the faction feud and many of those who had traditionally voted for the Congress and the UDF were now coming forward to support the LDF. The large-scale alienation of the masses from the Antony Government would result in the LDF getting an unprecedented mandate in the election. The infighting in the Congress would aggravate after the polls. The senior Congress leader, K. Karunakaran, was particular about the faction feud going. It was all personal and there was nothing political about it, he pointed out.

Nexus alleged

Mr. Bhargavan said there were clear indications that Mr. Karunakaran, had entered into a secret pact with the BJP in Thiruvananthapuram to ensure that his daughter, Padmaja Venugopal, won in Mukundapuram. The BJP had no reason to defend its few votes in Mukundapuram and these could easily be transferred to the BJP. It was an arrangement that was meant to be beneficial to both Mr. Karunakaran and the BJP, he added.

Asked to comment on the Leader of the Opposition, V.S. Achuthanandan's claim that discussions were on for the entry of some second rung leaders of the UDF into the LDF after the polls, Mr. Bhargavan said such discussions were certainly on and that the moment the LDF took the decision, some important constituents of the UDF would walk over to the LDF. The Lok Sabha election would thus mark the beginning of the end of the UDF, he said.

On the Wahab issue, the CPI leader said there was no difference of opinion in the LDF on the issue. The decision of the LDF was to pursue the complaint relating to inclusion of Mr. P.V. Abdul Wahab's name in the voters' list. Now that the Nilambur tahsildar has rejected the complaint, it would be pursued in courts of law. This did not mean that the LDF was opposed to non-resident Indians getting voting rights or being allowed to contest in elections, he added.

Referring to the continued incarceration of the PDP leader, Abdul Nasir Maudany, Mr. Bhargavan said it was improper to have denied him parole. The law, he said, should be applied equally to all. On the Congress candidate, Padmaja Venugopal's reported observation that Rajan was killed because he was a naxalite, Mr. Bhargavan wanted to know whether somebody could be killed simply because he or she was a naxalite. On the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony's allegation that the Opposition was responsible for the poster showing him and the VHP leader, Pravin Togadia, the CPI leader said the question was best put to Mr. Karunakaran.

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