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Basu reiterates support to Congress

West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu today reiterated the Communist Party of India-Marxist's support to a Congress government at the Centre but felt an anti-Bharatiya Janata Party verdict in the just-concluded assembly polls in the four states might not dislodge the A B Vajpayee government.

Speaking to the media in Calcutta, Basu said in the past, ruling parties at the Centre have lost provincial elections, but have gone on to complete their term.

The chief minister said the allies of the BJP held the key to the party's fate. If some of the constituents of the BJP coalition broke away, it will be a difficult situation (for the BJP), he added.

Basu said whether a Congress-led government could be formed at the Centre now depended on the allies of the BJP and hoped that some of them would dissociate themselves from the saffron party.

The veteran Marxist leader claimed that only the Left parties had a tradition of consolidating power over the years even while other major parties suffered the anti-incumbency syndrome.

UNI

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