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Congress only cause for the BJP remaining in power, says Surjeet

Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet today accused the Congress for letting the coalition government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre remain in power despite it's bad governance.

Taking a cue from repeated assertions by Congress leaders that it would not dither to discharge its constitutional obligations if the ruling combine fell under its own weight, Surjeet said, "Vajpayee sarkar chal nahi rahe hai, balki latak rahi hai (The Vajpayee government is not running, but hanging in balance)."

The CPI-M leader was hinting at the way the central government's allies dictated terms to Vajpayee.

He said the BJP-led combine would certainly fall under its own weight due to growing dissension among its allies who were quick to air their resentment almost every day in one form or the other.

Surjeet, who was in Lohianagar as a special invitee to address the Samajwadi Party's three-day convention, however, also attacked the Congress which he said the party was nursing a wrong notion about its own strength after the success in assembly polls in three states.

According to him, the Congress had to realise that the days of single party rule were over and no single party could come to power without support from other parties.

Surjeet hinted at the resurrection of the Third Front, and said the foundation of the front had already been relaid when almost all parties that were not allied to the Congress and the BJP had unitedly voiced their objection to the Vajpayee government's policies during the December 11 all-India industrial strike.

Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav also attacked both the Congress and the BJP and wondered why the Congress, instead of attacking the activities of communal forces, was attacking his party and the newly-floated Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha.

He regretted that the BJP government was in power due to the Congress's sympathetic attitude. He said his party was not power-hungry, but was continuing its movement for judicious treatment of the weaker sections.

UNI

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