After a brief lull, veteran leader K.R. Gouri has once again lashed out at the Congress, stating that there is no need for that party to adopt a ‘big brother' attitude in the United Democratic Front (UDF). There is no need for the UDF to decide on candidates of the parties in the front either.
Talking to reporters here on Monday, the Janadhipathya Samrakshana Samithi (JSS) chairperson said the inexperience of the Congress in managing its allies in the front was visible. No decision was taken in the UDF that candidates of allies for the forthcoming local body polls would be decided by the front. However, such a notion was being spread by certain vested interests. JSS would determine its candidates, she said.
Ms. Gouri said that if the JSS was not wanted in the UDF, it would look for other options. The JSS was particular that it would contest in all the seats that it had in the previous polls. There would be no compromise on this. K.K. Shaju, the lone MLA of the JSS, had been entrusted with the job of taking up this issue in the next UDF meeting.
If the Congress fielded rebels, the JSS would take a strong stance and if circumstances were such, the party would not refuse votes from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), she said, adding that anybody believing that the JSS could be taken for granted were grossly wrong.
The veteran politician said she was ready to contest in the next Assembly elections if her party wanted her to.
Ms. Gouri, who was expelled from the CPI (M) in 1994, and a member of the UDF ever since, had been unrestrained recently in voicing her opposition to the manner in which the Congress was allegedly treating its allies in the UDF.
