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UF blasts BJP over Presidential form of govt

Leaders of the United Front have come down heavily on the Bharatiya Janata Party for its reported attempt to review the Constitution to usher in the Presidential form of government.

Addressing a rally at the Nizam college grounds in Hyderabad, leaders of the Janata Dal, the Left parties and Samajwadi Party said the BJP was proposing a Presidential form of government to serve its narrow interests. For, under such a dispensation, it need not depend on smaller parties to implement its policies and push its communal agenda, which, they said, would endanger the country's unity.

Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav said the mandate in the last election was not for the BJP, but it was in favour of the secular forces.

Communist Party of India secretary A B Bardhan said Union ministers Lal Kishinchand Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti had not been dropped from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee ministry though they were facing charges in connection with the Babri mosque demolition. He also ridiculed the distinction sought to be made between cases of corruption and political offences.

He said the BJP-led coalition government, within a short period, had appointed six governors, all of whom belonged to either the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or the BJP, with a view to consolidating the party in states.

UNI

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