The Hindu : Kerala News : UDF will prescribe treatment: Antony

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 20, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

UDF will prescribe treatment: Antony

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MAY 19. The Chief Minister, A. K. Antony, today said the UDF and the State unit of the Congress would evaluate what went wrong with the UDF in the Lok Sabha elections and "prescribe the medicine" required to overcome the setback.

At a press conference after a meeting of the Cabinet here, Mr. Antony said that if any corrective steps were required (in the working of the Government), it was for the party and the UDF to come out with suggestions. He said he would act accordingly, whatever be the nature of the suggestions.

He refused to be drawn into a discussion on the views publicly expressed by other UDF leaders on the reasons for the UDF debacle. "This was a terrible defeat, no doubt about that. But, I do not want to do a post-mortem [of the election verdict for your benefit]. Be patient. Let the UDF and the party do it," he said.

Journalists kept pressing him for his reaction to the observations from some of the UDF leaders that the poll debacle was partly due to the feeling among ordinary party workers that they had no role in the Government. He was also asked whether he agreed with their view that the style of governance should change and whether, by the term `change in style of governance', they were suggesting a leadership change.

He parried all these questions by stating that he would stick to his resolve not do conduct a post-mortem in public. "[However,] I have my own assessment about why the UDF lost the elections so badly," he said.

Asked whether he had suggested the name of any party leader from Kerala for the Ministerial post in the Congress-led Government assuming power at the Centre, he said: "How can I do that? The poll results from Kerala were so disappointing that I thought I had no moral right to put forward any such suggestion [to the Congress high command]. The only time I broke my silence was yesterday, when Sonia Gandhi announced her decision not to be the Prime Minister and I could not help appealing to her not to do so."

He said it was unfortunate that the BJP should try to subvert the people's mandate in these elections by raising objections against Mrs. Gandhi becoming the Prime Minister of the country.

"The Congress has emerged as the single largest party in these elections and the party MPs had elected her as their leader in the Lok Sabha. The BJP is trying to polarise the country on the issue of her becoming the Prime Minister," he said.

Asked whether, like Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, he too would `listen to his inner voice' to decide what to do to resolve the issues in Kerala, Mr. Antony remarked: "My inner voice is clear on this subject. Let the UDF and the Congress party decide what all should be done in Kerala."

He was asked whether, in the context of the support being extended to the Congress-led Government at the Centre by the left parties, he would go soft on his attack on the CPI(M) in Kerala, Mr. Antony said with a disarming smile: "Have I not admitted defeat?"

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