Congress not averse to CPI(M) support: Antony

March 31, 2014 12:13 am | Updated November 27, 2021 06:54 pm IST - KASARAGOD:

Exuding confidence that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) would form a “stable and secular” government at the Centre, senior Congress leader and Defence Minister A.K. Antony has said his party is prepared to accept support from the CPI(M) if it is sincere in its stand to keep the BJP at bay.

“The Congress will not have any hesitation in soliciting support of all secular-minded parties, including the CPI(M), after the Lok Sabha elections to ensure that the BJP is kept out of power,” Mr. Antony told reporters here on Sunday.

The BJP, which was facing intraparty rebellion, was not a major political force in 14 States and the Congress had better prospects to retain power with the help of secular parties, he said.

Mr. Antony, who kick started his election campaign in the State from this northernmost Lok Sabha constituency, said there was no need for Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to resign in the wake of the Kerala High Court making some observations against the functioning of the CM’s Office while ordering a CBI probe into two land-grab cases involving Mr. Chandy’s personal staff.

He said the CPI(M), which had been clamouring for Mr. Chandy’s resignation in the wake of the court observations, was in fact adopting double standard in the RMP leader T.P. Chandrasekharan murder case.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.