Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Pawar play

Sir, — I refer to the editorial "Pawar play" (Jan. 19). Realising the need of the hour, Sonia Gandhi has climbed down several steps and taken the initiative to contact the leaders of almost all the national and regional parties that are opposed to the NDA. Sharad Pawar, too, has thought it fit to join hands, forced of course by political compulsions. The DMK, the PMK and the MDMK have already expressed their willingness to join the alliance. The real test to their tolerance, accommodative spirit and political wisdom, of course, will be how they deal with seat-sharing.

K.D. Viswanaathan,

Coimbatore

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Sir, — The editorial portrays the conflict between political compulsions and the founding principles of the NCP. Politics continues to be the playground of power-mongers.

S. Srimoolanathan,

Chennai

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Sir, — Alliance among political parties with conflicting ideologies on the eve of elections is as unethical as post-poll defections, since both are intended to deceive the electorate.

It is a pity that the two major national political parties have virtually been driven to beg for alliances with regional parties in the States.

T. Ramaswamy,

Chennai

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Sir, — Going by the happenings in the last few days, we find that foes have turned into friends and friends into foes. There are those who were on the treasury benches till yesterday hailing the Government; they are now in the Opposition lambasting the very same policies. None of these parties can either be good friends, or, for that matter, good enemies.

Sreedhar Ganji,

Hyderabad

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Sir, — The world of politicians has made remarkable progress in the abolition of untouchability. The BJP, an `untouchable' till not very long ago, is now a partner or an ex-partner of practically every other party, barring the Congress and the communists. And there is the small but growing list of parties that tried to get into the NDA fold but failed, such as the NCP. How can the political parties now argue convincingly that their estranged beau is communal? Even by the standards of Indian politics, they will sound a lot less credible.

R. Ganesh,

Chennai

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Sir, — The Congress is a party with no principles. It has entered into an alliance with the DMK, the same party it had accused of having a nexus with the LTTE that assassinated Rajiv Gandhi. Today, the party says, notwithstanding the Jain Commission interim report, it has no problem in aligning with the DMK.

Debasish Baruah,

Jorhat, Assam

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Sir, — I refer to the observation of the Prime Minister that the Congress-DMK ties are unprincipled. Non-alignment is our policy governing external affairs, and, realignment our principle governing internal affairs. So nothing is unprincipled, sir.

Kallidai K. Amanullah,

Kollam, Kerala

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Sir, — To put an end to the chaos in the coalition scenario, a dramatic ending should be scripted. The Congress and the BJP should form an alliance at the Centre and the AIADMK and the DMK in Tamil Nadu.

V.S. Venkatavaradan,

Salem, T.N.

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