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Make Congress single largest party: IUML

By Our Special Correspondent

KOCHI, APRIL 30 . The State president of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Panakkad Shihab Thangal, today called upon the people to vote for the Congress candidates in order to make the Congress the single largest party in the Lok Sabha.

At a `Meet-the-Press' here on Friday, the first in his quarter-century-long political career, the Thangal said that in view of the exit polls projection of a hung Parliament, the President of India would invite the party with the largest number of MPs to form the next Government. To qualify the Congress for this, and thus stave off the BJP from power, it was necessary that all secular- and democratic-minded people voted for the Congress, he said.

He said the BJP had come to power with the promises of all-round development and protection of the minorities. But during the last five years, it had unveiled and implemented, one by one, its hidden agenda. In Gujarat, Muslims had been subjected to extensive violence and injustice. Only a collective of secular parties would be able to unseat the BJP from power, he said.

The Thangal said the infighting-ridden Congress in the State was calm for now and hoped it would remain so. When reporters asked about the Chief Minister's controversial remarks last year, which had irked the IUML, he said it was no longer an issue now. Answering a question on the Congress fielding the `father-son-daughter trio' in Kerala, he said: "It's their internal affair." As for the Government steps on Marad, he said they were satisfactory.

Asked how the IUML viewed the CPI(M), he said many of its ideologies were outdated. For instance, the Communists' stand on private property was no longer valid in the present world.

The CPI(M) should update its ideologies and principles, he suggested. Asked about the role of the IUML in a scenario where the Congress would be asked to form the Government, the Thangal said his party would give full support to the Congress.

The Industries Minister, P.K. Kunhalikutty also attended the conference.

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