The Hindu : Cong. responsible for BJP misrule: NCP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 31, 2003

National

National

Cong. responsible for BJP misrule: NCP

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI MAY 30. The Nationalist Congress Party today held the Congress squarely responsible for the continuing mis-rule of the BJP as the principal Opposition party was unable to coordinate with other like-minded political organisations to provide a viable alternative to the ruling combine at the Centre.

The Congress came in for severe criticism at the NCP's day-long national convention here; both in the political resolution and the speech of the party chief, Sharad Pawar, who accused his former party of indulging in competitive Hindutva with the BJP.

"There is not much of a difference between the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Digvijay Singh, and BJP's Uma Bharti.

And just because the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, started the BJP's Gujarat campaign from Somnath temple, Sonia Gandhi launched the Congress campaign from Ambaji temple," Mr. Pawar said stressing that there could be no compromise on secularism.

While the general secretaries, Tariq Anwar and P.A. Sangma, ruled out a return to the Congress fold, the political resolution noted that though the anti-incumbency factor helped the Congress come to power in some States, the party was not seen as a viable alternative to the BJP.

Of the view that the Congress had not yet woken up to the reality that coalition governments were here to stay, the resolution lamented the fact that a national alternative to the ruling coalition had not yet emerged.

This said, the political resolution concluded with the NCP resolving to work towards dislodging the NDA Government and intensifying efforts to bring about a better coordination among like-minded secular parties.

Mr. Pawar — who was re-elected party president for the second time — in his opening remarks came down heavily on the NDA Government for weakening India's stature in the comity of nations by not taking a principled stance on world developments, and steering the economy to the brink of disaster.

Stating that the overall situation was alarming, he stressed the need to forge the broadest alliance of secular, Left and democratic forces to challenge the communal and casteist polarisation of society.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National