Southern States - Kerala

Pinarayi hints at backing Cong(S)

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM May 2 . The CPI(M) State secretary, Pinarayi Vijayan, has hinted that his party would prefer the Congress (S), led by Ramachandran Kadannappally, rather than the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), as a constituent of the Opposition LDF.

Replying to questions at his press conference here today, Mr. Vijayan said the NCP did not seem to have a clear stance on issues and had at times even tended to back the BJP. However, the Congress(S) had always been clear in its stance on various issues.

Although the NCP had adopted positions that were not in tune with that of the LDF, the CPI(M) had not taken it seriously. It had always done business with the NCP on the premise that as far as Kerala was concerned, it was the old Congress (S). However, now that differences have cropped among the NCP leaders, the matter would have to be discussed at the level of the LDF before a decision was taken, he said.

On the allegation that the senior Congress leader, K. Karunakaran, and the CPI(M) were in agreement on many issues, Mr. Vijayan said such conclusions could not be drawn simply because the CPI(M) and Mr. Karunakaran spoke in the same language on issues affecting the State like the discussions UDF leaders had with leaders of caste organisations on educational reform.

Asked to comment on the attack on the Asian Development Bank office by extremists, he said his information was that police were present on the scene when the attack took place.

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