The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : DPA allies in favour of Sonia heading govt.: Vasan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 10, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

DPA allies in favour of Sonia heading govt.: Vasan

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, MAY 9. All constituents of the Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) and secular forces at the national level are in favour of the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, leading a stable and secular coalition Government at the Centre, the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president, G.K.Vasan, said today.

Participating in a `Meet-the-Press' organised by the Chennai Reporters' Guild here, he said all secular parties, including the Left parties, were keen on preventing the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) from returning to power. However, the democratic process of choosing a leader for the ruling combine would start shortly after the announcement of the results, he said.

The exit poll graph till the third phase of elections indicated that the Congress and its allies would garner more than the required number of seats to form a Government and that the BJP was ``alarmed'' at the growing support for his party, he said.

The decision to advance the Lok Sabha poll betrayed the Bharatiya Janata Party's ``inability to lead a stable Government for a full term and it would have lost the majority'' as many of its allies started quitting the NDA, Mr.Vasan said.

With the BJP developing electoral ties with the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), which brought down the Government led by the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in 1999, the chances of the party providing stability were remote, he said.

Apart from the people's opposition to the ``wrong economic policies'' of the NDA Government, the anti-incumbency factor in the State was strong, thanks to the AIADMK regime's measures, which affected every section, he said.

Flaying Ms.Jayalalithaa for launching a ``personal attack'' against Ms.Gandhi at election meetings, he said the Chief Minister ``should not have stooped to this level.''

It was unfortunate that the BJP and AIADMK leaders were raking up Ms.Gandhi's foreign origin issue though the Goswami Committee of which the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K.Advani, was a member, recommended in 1990 that persons of foreign origin could contest for higher posts such as President and Prime Minister, on completion of 15 years of acquiring Indian citizenship.

The Supreme Court also gave its verdict on Ms.Gandhi's citizenship, he said.

Replying to queries on his party's stand on the allegation made earlier that the then DMK Government had allowed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) a free run, resulting in the assassination of former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, he said the Congress accepted the Jain Commission's report on this matter. The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader, Vaiko, made it clear that his party would not support the LTTE's activities on the Indian soil, he said.

The Prime Minister and the Chief Minister should have taken effective measures to get the State's share of Cauvery water, Mr. Vasan said.

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