Buddha, Sushma spar over coalition dharma

He had earlier questioned the morality of several coalition partners of the NDA to remain within it, despite their total disapproval of the Babri Masjid demolition by the BJP.

‘‘The coalition in Bengal has survived 26 years now because it was born out of struggles and movements. It was not born out of any political expediency and opportunism,’’ he said, ‘‘like the opportunistic coalition of the BJP.’’

Speakers from major parties refused to hazard a guess about the outcome of the LS elections. Called by moderator, The Hindu editor-in-chief N. Ram, for an assessment of the election outcome, Swaraj said: ‘‘I don’t believe in predictions. I can only say that we have a goal to achieve. We will accept whatever the mandate.’’

Kapil Sibal of the Congress said the party still believed that there are inherent weaknesses in coalition politics but at the same time accepted that it was the order of the day. ‘‘Political federalism has no relevance without constitutional federalism,’’ he felt. ‘‘But still in case of a coalition government headed by the Congress, it would like to move with a common minimum agenda,’’ he said.

RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav said he had only one common minimum agenda with the rest, that was to ‘‘drive out the communal and fundamentalist BJP and NDA government out of the country. The secular front will win this election’’. Inaugurating the seminar, former CM Jyoti Basu charged the BJP as an ‘‘uncivilised, barbaric’’ party for destroying the Babri Masjid. ‘‘The BJP’s Hindutva is an insult to Hindus,’’ he said. He also accused the Congress of not playing its role properly and allowing the communal BJP to wrest power.