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Sonia criticises LDF ‘misrule’

Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

Acknowledging supporters: Congress president Sonia Gandhi waves to the crowd at a party rally at the Central Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Congress president and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Friday lashed out at the Left Democratic Front (LDF) rule in the State, “under which the education sector, judiciary and media were under constant attack.”

Addressing a mammoth rally in the State capital on the occasion of the inauguration of the District Congress Committee (DCC) office, Ms. Gandhi said the decision by the Left parties and the Congress to come together at the Centre was purely a political tactic to keep the communal forces at bay. But the Congress continued to oppose the Left parties, particularly the CPI(M) in Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. “Just because we are together at the Centre does not mean they can do anything here,” she said.

Ms. Gandhi supported the views expressed by State leaders of the Congress, who one after the other criticised the CPI(M) and the LDF government over its failure to address the problems of the common man.

The Congress president called upon her party workers to work in the spirit of togetherness and win the confidence of the people by taking up popular causes. She said the people wanted a change and party workers should rise to the occasion. At the national level, the Congress party was committed to fighting all fascist and fundamentalist forces that mobilise sections of the people for narrow political reasons. She said the Congress did not need any certificate from any party for its stand that upheld secular values.

Ms. Gandhi asserted that the various pro-poor programmes launched by the UPA government such as the National Rural Health Mission and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes were the outcome of promises made in the Congress election manifesto in 2004.

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