Thiruvananthapuram, February 25: United Front leaders on Tuesday made an impassioned appeal to the Kerala people to vote for the Front for stability and shun the Congress which had stabilised corruption.At the United Front rally at Central Stadium here, CPM general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan and Telugu Desam chairman Chandrababu Naidu mounted a strong attack against the Congress, which was in stark comparison to Sonia Gandhi's silence about the LDF at the same venue.
The crowd was slightly less than what it was for Sonia's meet yesterday.Surjeet urged voters to reiterate their historic decision, as in 1957, to give a thumping majority to the Left and secular forces.
Bardhan tried to expose the stability slogan being raised by both Congress and BJP. Congress, which had enjoyed the monopoly of power for 45 years, had no cause for complaint. But it had squandered the legacy of the freedom movement. ``My question to Sonia is whether it was not Rajiv who allowed theshilanyas at Ayodhya while he was the Prime Minister,'' he said.
Referring to Congressmen crossing over to BJP, Bardhan said that once desertions from Congress were in protest against the party's failure to uphold secularism. They left and formed socialist forums, Janata Party and Janata Dal. However, the latest desertions were to BJP. No less a person than K C Pant, the son of Gobind Ballabh Pant, had left Congress to join BJP.
Referring to BJP's claims of stability, Bardhan said the party which had secured two-thirds majority in Gujarat split up during its term, trying as many as four chief ministers. It indulged in wholesale purchase of MLAs in Uttar Pradesh to stay in power and its record of 13 days at the Centre should expose its claims on stability. Congress, on the other hand, would finish No 3 in the elections.
Surjeet stressed on the United Front's adherence to morality in politics as opposed to the total lack of scruples for other parties. Unlike BJP which indulged in massive horse-trading tolatch on to power, the United Front met for two minutes and decided to tender its resignation when Congress withdrew its support.
BJP, which was on a high moral ground, had aligned with corrupt elements to come to power. It was trying to manoeuvre a majority.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
