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Sunday, Apr 12, 2009
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“Congress is helping BJP by attacking Third Front”

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Reacting to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent observations, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja said the Congress is helping the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by attacking the Third Front.

“India is not bipolar. People have seen these two parties and the governments headed by these two parties. The non-Congress, non-BJP [front] is emerging as an alternative. Therefore, the BJP and the Congress are attacking it and the Prime Minister has also joined the chorus. Till now it was the Prime Minister in-waiting who was attacking the alternative,” Mr. Raja observed.

Nuclear deal

On the Prime Minister’s observations that he would have resigned had the India-U.S. nuclear deal not gone through, Mr. Raja felt this revelation was an admission that the pact was his personal agenda. “Why it was a personal agenda is for Dr. Singh to explain. We opposed the nuclear deal keeping in view the national interest.”

Left contribution

The CPI leader felt the Prime Minister statement that the Left was always on the wrong side was meant for consumption for the elections. “The whole country knows our contribution. In the freedom movement, our contribution was second to none in fighting British colonialism. The Prime Minister should have known this. He is stooping to this level just for sake of the elections,” Mr. Raja said.

He attacked the Prime Minister on the issue of rising prices and questioned his credentials as an economist. “When inflation was high, he put the blame on external factors. The rate of inflation is currently low but prices are still high. As an economist he has to explain why this is happening…”

Third front isolated BJP: Karat

PTI reports:

CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat told PTI: “It is not the Congress, but the non-Congress, non-BJP alternative which has effectively put paid to the chances of the BJP coming to power at the Centre. It is only this alternative which has isolated the BJP.”

Mr. Karat, who is campaigning in Karnataka, said: “The BJP cannot even make its mark in States such as Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh where its traditional allies have joined the Third Front as the secular alternative is emerging stronger with more UPA allies falling in line.”

“Therefore, it is an illusion that the formation of the Third Front would automatically help the BJP come back to power,” he said.

Elections 2009 - Comprehensive coverage

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