The Hindu : CM's remark will help party: BJP chief

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 06, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

CM's remark will help party: BJP chief

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM AUG. 5. The BJP State president, P.S. Sreedharan Pillai, has said that the ``controversial'' statement of the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, about minorities would benefit the BJP.

Addressing a `Meet-the-Press' programme organised by the Thiruvananthapuram Press Club today, the BJP leader said he agreed with the statement of the Chief Minister. The social injustices that resulted from minority ``appeasement'' were an issue the BJP used to raise from time to time. But now that the Chief Minister himself had spoken about it, the issue would strike more people.

Moreover, the Chief Minister could offer only lip service to the cause while the BJP was pressing for action. Though Mr. Antony as Chief Minister was duty-bound to correct the imbalances, he was unwilling to do so. Besides, neither the LDF nor the UDF could change their policies whatever Mr. Antony said. This situation would benefit the BJP. It would take the issue to the people, Mr. Pillai said.

The UDF, he said, had ``hijacked'' BJP votes in the past through organised attempts. This would not be allowed to happen now. The BJP, he added, had no plans to engineer ``reverse hijackings''. The Chief Minister's statement would not help the BJP to ``hijack'' UDF votes. However, traditional votes of the Congress would come to the BJP.

He said Mr. Antony had a clean image at the national level. He was one who had not tried to promote his family members in politics.

The BJP, he said, would adopt a pro-Hindu approach in the State. However, it would not be anti-Christian or anti-Muslim. It would oppose cornering of benefits in an organised manner by the minorities. When the Central Government aided 41 educational institutions in the State, 38 of the beneficiaries belonged to the Education Minister's community.

The Lok Sabha seats in Malappuram district were going up on delimitation as the Muslim population had increased at a higher rate than that of Hindus and Christians.

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