ALAPPUZHA: The former Chief Minister A.K. Antony has said the State Government should take the lead to ensure that the proposed Central legislation on private unaided professional colleges should guarantee 50 per cent of the seats to meritorious students and government fee for these seats.

Speaking to presspersons here on Monday, Mr. Antony said the State should take a bold stand on the issue in the meeting of Education Ministers convened by the Union Government on August 27. The existing State laws have succeeded in ensuring social justice on this front. The proposed Central legislation should be modelled on the State laws, he added.

Mr. Antony said all political parties in the State should join hands to ensure that social justice would be guaranteed in admissions to self-financing colleges. The recent Supreme Court judgment, he said, is a blow to the efforts of the State Government to ensure social justice. The judgment has failed to take into consideration social realities and the aspirations of the common man.

Mr. Antony said all those who had left the Congress on various issues and were willing to accept the leadership of Congress president Sonia Gandhi should return to the parent organisation. Those who return will be given fair treatment. On Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Ramesh Chennithala's stance that the party would not welcome back those MLAs who resigned

from the Assembly and joined the National Congress (Indira), Mr. Antony said he had not spoken to Mr. Chennithala on the issue.

Mr. Antony said the Communist Party of India (Marxist) which had allured a section of the Congressmen by false promises had now left them in the lurch. The CPI(M) is now saying that it will not ally with the National Congress (Indira) and will only make adjustments at the local level. The CPI (M) has, in fact, cheated those leaders who left the Congress dreaming that they would be accommodated in the Left Democratic Front (LDF).

Mr. Antony said the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill which would be introduced in Parliament this week would be a great move in the history of the country. The scope of the Bill will be slowly enlarged to cover the youth from all sections. Though there is opposition to the Bill from some quarters, Ms. Gandhi is firm in her resolve to go ahead with the Bill.

Mr. Antony said the Chaitanya Yatra being taken out by Mr. Chennitha had helped rejuvenate the party.

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