Indian Union Muslim League leader and MLA K.N.A. Khader has blamed the Congress leadership at the State and the national levels for the political problems in the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), and expressed hope that Congress president Sonia Gandhi would intervene to defuse the political crisis.
In an edit-page article headlined ‘Save UDF from monsoon damage,’ published in the Chandrika newspaper on Wednesday, Mr. Khader blamed the UDF leadership for the front’s problems and observed that the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which had been too debilitated to hope to come back to power and had become alienated from the people, had suddenly been filled with hope (about its future).
‘Image affected’
He said the UDF leadership had to take full responsibility for giving the Marxists such an opportunity, and added that the its leadership alone was responsible for the crisis in the front and its ministry.
The Central leadership of the Congress had failed in its responsibility to defuse the crisis, Mr. Khader wrote in his article. Though the Opposition and the people knew very well that neither the UDF government nor the Ministers were involved in the solar scam and the government had not suffered any loss on account of the solar racket, the controversy it had generated had affected the government’s image.
‘Mistakes made’
It also brought to the fore the simmering problems within the UDF, the IUML leader said, adding that from the beginning itself, the front had made mistakes in countering the allegations.
There was no joint defensive action, only individual attempts by the sidekicks of some leaders; some among the party leaders even used the occasion to add fuel to the fire, he said.
The question of reconstituting the UDF ministry also damaged the front’s image since it was not properly handled, Mr. Khader said in the article.
No attempt was made to settle the issues in consultation with the UDF constituents either; to cut a long story short, national and State leaders were not able to solve the coalition’s problems, he said.
Three problems
As a result, three problems — the solar case, internal problems in the Congress, and problems within the UDF — remain unsettled, the League leader said.
The lone consolation was, he said, that the Opposition seemed to be fed up with its agitations that were launched on the solar issue. Though people’s hopes in the UDF seemed to have receded a bit, there was nothing to indicate that their confidence in the Opposition had gone up, he said. The Opposition’s lone hope lay in the feuds within the UDF.
The UDF leadership had not bothered to take on the LDF politically either. Instead of the Congress high command, TV channels were organising debates on contentious issues among the UDF constituents
The UDF prestige could still be salvaged by solving problems within the front and settling quarrels within the Congress.
“Let us hope Ms. Gandhi will come forward to save the democratic movement represented by the UDF in Kerala from the damage it has suffered during this monsoon season,” Mr. Khader said in his article.
