National

Politics of fronts detrimental: Sonia

BERHAMPUR (ORISSA): Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday came down on the latest attempts by leaders of different parties to amalgamate themselves into ‘fronts’ to grab power.

“Every other day we are hearing about the formation of different ‘fronts.’ No one knows which leader is in which front. The electorate is ignorant of when and why a leader is changing loyalties from one front to the other,” she told a public meeting here. But the Congress was different. “We are not like the ‘fronts’ which forget their ideology and adherence after the elections.” This politics of ‘fronts’ was detrimental to the development of the country. “It is only an effort by greedy politicians to grab power during the elections,” Ms. Gandhi said.

She subtly targeted the newly launched Third Front and made a reference to its rally, ‘Vijay Abiyan Samavesh,’ to be held in Bhubaneswar on Friday. While she did not make any direct attack on Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Ms. Gandhi assailed BJP leader L.K. Advani.

Orissa, under the BJD-BJP rule in the past decade, had witnessed increased corruption, rise in poverty, escalation of violence and misuse of resources, she said.

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