Advani blames UF for ISI rise

Addressing an election rally at Belda, near Midnapore, Advani said: 8220;I have nothing to say against Gupta personally who is contesting the Midnapore seat. But we want the seat for our candidate as Midnapore had not received its due share of development in the post-independence period.8221;

In Calcutta, talking to reporters, Advani referred to the Communists as the 8220;palanquin bearers of Sonia8217;s Congress,8221; and said it was their desperate attempt for survival.

Advani also ridiculed the idea of third Front revived by CPM general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet. He said that the sudden revival of the idea of Third Front was an indirect admission thatthe BJP-led National Democratic Alliance NDA was heading for victory.

Claiming that 8220;Communism as an ideology is dead,8221; Advani said that 8220;the coming closer of the Trinamool Congress and the BJP augur well for West Bengal.8221;

Saying that both the BJP and the Trinamool Congress represented the forces of political change in the country and the State, Advani said: 8220;Our the Trinamool Congress and the BJP coming closer has become a turning point in the history of Bengal.8221;

He said he was confident that the NDA 8220;is heading for a victory.8221; When asked what was the basis of his confidence, he said that 8220;almost all the exit and opinion polls had said it.8221;

The BJP leader said that a bi-polar polity had emerged in the national political scenario and the BJP had become the principal pole with the Congress being the subsidiary.

Replying to a question whether the NDA government would be stable and how he was sure that the pre-poll allies of the BJP, like Mamata Banerjee and Chandrababu Naidu, who did notjoin the NDA, would not opt out of the alliance in case of a political realignment of forces after the elections, Advani said, 8220;They can8217;t afford to do that because earlier the Congress was the principal political party which is now facing decay.8221;

8220;Now it8217;s the BJP which has emerged as the main political party and Mamata and Naidu have to be with us,8221; Advani said.

He accused the Congress of changing the political issues to hoodwink the people.

8220;The Congress had began shifting issues the moment they realised that their anti-government propaganda on Kargil failed to influence the people as the Kargil victory happens to be an achievement of the BJP-led Government. So they created issues like import of sugar from Pakistan during the Kargil war,8221; Advani said, adding, 8220;the Congress and the Left propaganda on the sugar import from Pakistan is ridiculous and baseless.8221;