Bofors, Sonia won’t make much difference

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 19: Communist Party of India -- Marxist (CPM) general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet has said that Sonia Gandhi's...

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 19: Communist Party of India — Marxist (CPM) general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet has said that Sonia Gandhi’s active election campaigning has raised the confidence of Congressmen and that Bofors is only one among many scandals plaguing the country.

Surjeet said this at a meet-the-press organised by Thiruvananthapuram Press Club here on Sunday when asked about the impact of the Sonia factor. Whether he saw a Sonia wave, Surjeet said there was no wave. “An individual cannot unleash a wave. You need slogans to create a wave,” he said. He had said at a public meeting here on Saturday that Sonia would collect crowds not votes.

Bofors was not the major issue in the polls according to Surjeet. “The amount involved in the Bofors scam was Rs 70 crore while there were scams involving more than Rs 1,000 core," he said. "The Bofors investigations first report has named Quattrochi. Hence, he should be arrested first to get at the final recipients,” Sujeet demanded.

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He reiterated his party’s changing perception on joining a post-poll Government at the Centre. He said that “CPM is not in a position to say that it will not participate in a Government at the Centre.” The party would also not hold fast to its old stance, which had been marked by a fierce opposition to participating in governance at the Centre.

He had no regrets about his party not allowing West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu to become the Prime Minister in spite of an all-round demand.On the party’s attitude towards Congress at the hustings, Surjeet stuck to his earlier announcement that the Left and the UF would devise some effective mechanism to prevent the BJP from coming to power. There were several possibilities before the Left, including supporting various regional outfits like Devi Lal’s party in Haryana.

Asked whether the Left would support Congress to form the Government at the Centre, Surjeet said that he did not foresee the possibility of Congress forming a Government. The 13-party United Front was still intact, he said.Surjeet said that although differences persisted within the UF on the economic agenda, CPM and other Left parties were able to exert a pro-labour influence on the Government. The conceding of major demands of telecom trade unions and the decision not to take action against employees was an instance of the Left influence on Government.

On Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray’s proposal to set up a national memorial at Ayodhya to resolve the communal conflict, Surjeet said he had already commented. Now it was for A B Vajpayee to say whether he supported the proposal mooted by his major electoral ally in Maharashtra.