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CPI will not join Congress govt

The Communist Party of India will only extend issue-based support if an alternate government is formed in the event of the fall of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition.

CPI national secretariat member J Chitharanjan, MP, ruled out the possibility of joining a coalition headed by the Congress.

Referring to the BJP's claim that a mid-term poll to the Lok Sabha was inevitable if the Vajpayee government fell, he said it was a calculated attempt to create fear in some political parties and Independent members of Parliament and push them towards supporting the BJP.

''With the present arithmetic of the Lok Sabha, it is possible to have an alternate government,'' the Communist deputy added. Stating that the alternate government would most probably be led by the Congress, Chitharanjan said the Congress was not a communal party, although it had made some compromises on issues like Ayodhya and the Shahbano case.

The CPI leader said the BJP-led coalition government had been alienated from the people because of its anti-people policies and its inability to provide able governance. Being a sinking ship, the fissures between the alliance partners increased and they have reached a point of no return, he added.

Meanwhile, Congress leaders in Karnataka are divided on the issue of the party seeking the support of the All India Anna DMK to form an alternative government at the Centre.

The leaders expressed divergent views in a meeting convened by state party president S M Krishna in Bangalore to discuss the allegations levelled against the Vajpayee government by former naval chief Vishnu Bhagwat and former adviser to the finance minister Mohan Guruswamy.

However, the leaders were unanimous in their view that the party should play a major role in removing the BJP-led government.

Describing AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalitha as the "fountainhead of corruption", former law minister Harnahalli Ramaswamy said the party should not take the AIADMK's support to form the government. 'It should not not become a puppet in the hands of parties such as the AIADMK which came out with fresh demands every day,' he said.

In contrast, former speaker D B Chandre Gowda welcomed Jayalalitha's action, in withdrawing her party nominees, M Thambidurai and K R Janarthanam from the Union government. However, he criticised Thambidurai, who, he said, as law minister had allegedly tampered with the records of Justice Shivappa of the Madras high court, forcing the judge to retire.

UNI

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