ALAPPUZHA: CPM general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet has declared that the united Front could not bow to the pressure tactics of the Congress that it would withdraw support to the Gowda Government unless the Front supported BSP leader Mayawati to become the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Surjeet said that the Congress had extended unconditional support to the Gowda Ministry to prevent communal forces from coming to power. But if the Congress withdrew support to the UF Government under BSP pressure, it would ultimately help the communal forces. The CPM leader disclosed that the United Front was planning to support a BSP Congress coalition if Mayawati had given an undertaking to the Governor that her party would not join hands with BJP. But she rejected the UF demand. Now the Congress was trying to win the support of the UF and BJP for Mayawati. But the UF would never allow such a political blackmailing of the Congress. If the Congress and BSP were not able to form anon communal government the UF would like to seek peoples mandate again in UP.
He declared that the UF would foil at any cost the bid by communal forces to come to power in UP. He said that the UP Assembly was kept under suspended animation to enable democratic forces to work out equations which would help them to form government in the state. He further said that the UF Government had not violated Article 356 of the Constitution by doing so. Regarding the Central Government the CPM leader said that it could not be equated with the coalition government in Kerala. Parties having different political ideologies had come together to form the government at the Center. He said that the people could not expect much from this sort of government. Surjeet, however, believed that the present government was better than the previous one in many ways.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 30, 1996
