Just when CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat and his leftist associates are saying that the Congress will have to join hands with the left after the lok Sabha elections, senior Congress leader and Defence Minister AK Antony has called for the help of the left to keep the BJP and its leader Narendra Modi away from coming to power.
The left should drop its opposition to the Congress to keep the BJP away, Antony said in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday, prior to joining the Congress’s poll campaign in Kerala. Those who were opposing the BJP should vote for the Congress and the UDF it was leading (in Kerala). “The so-called Third front is a front that exists only in the dreams,” he said.
Though Antony called on the left to stand with the Congress after the election, he lashed out at the chief leftist party in India, the CPI(M). He even went to the extent of calling the CPI(M) an outdated party which was unable to respect the dreams of the new generation. “The policies and programmes of the CPI(M) have become outdated,” said Antony.
Stating that no party would get enough seats in the 16th lok Sabha election to rule on its own at the Centre, Antony said, “I foresee the UPA coming to power for a third time at the Centre. Several parties which are not with the UPA now will join hands with the Congress after the election to avoid the big danger (of the BJP coming to power).”
Reacting for the first time to Narendra Modi’s “three AKs” comment against him, Antony said that a true patriot would not be able to make such a comment. Modi’s statement would only help demoralise the armed forces. “I am saddened by that comment not because it hurt me but because it will pave way to help our enemies,” he said.
“There is this talk about a Modi wave. I don’t see any such wave. It is a construct, a marketing strategy,” he said. “The Gujarat model is a failure. You will know that when you look at the villages in Kerala, which are far more developed that those in Gujarat,” he added.
Terming the allegations of corruption in the Defence Department as unfounded, Antony said that the charge against him was that he was not bowing to the arms dealers. He said that prompt action had been taken whenever allegations of corruption had come up and that the Congress was the only party that had been dealing strictly with graft.
Rejecting the findings of the pre-poll surveys that put the Congress in a weak position, Antony said, “The situation in Kerala is favourable to the UDF. At the same time, there is a clear anti-left feeling among the people.” He said that the UDF would win a minimum of 17 lok Sabha seats out of the total 20 in Kerala in this election.