Thrissur: UDF candidate T.N. Prathapan of the Congress and LDF’s Rajaji Mathew Thomas of the CPI on Monday debated on the political situation in the country and the shape of the government that will be formed after the results are out on May 23.
During the discussions held at the press club here, Prathapan said that the farmers’ distress, demonetisation, GST and crony capitalism along with the unfulfilled promises of the BJP would lead to the debacle of NDA at the national level.
Rajaji said that the Congress, which has failed to stitch up an alliance in UP and Delhi, does not have the strength to defeat the BJP and form a secular government at the centre without the help of other parties, including the communists.
Prathapan replied that the Congress would be more interested in speaking to parties like DMK in Tamil Nadu as they stand a better chance of winning more seats than the CPI and the CPM.
“We will seek the opinion of parties like DMK and Samajwadi in UP before talking to the leftist in finding an alternative to the BJP and NDA at the national level,” Prathapan noted.
Rajaji said several political experts had citied the UPA-1 (2004-2009) model as the best in terms of coalition politics where the Left parties had supported the Congress on the basis of a common minimum progrmme that led to the creation of job guarantee schemes like MGNREGS, RTI Act and prevented corruption to a great extent.
Both agreed that neither Congress nor the leftist /socialist parties could form a government without post-poll alliance. “What will be the coalition against the BJP at the centre will be clear after the results are announced on May 23,” Prathapan said.
Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading.
