Oppn slanging match begins

“There are some imposters of secularism (sic)… This volte face by Yadav without any rational explanation, has raised grave doubts about his intentions,” Congress spokesman Arjun Singh told reporters.

The country, he said, should judge the SP chief and his party as the “true spoilers of the marginalisation of the dark forces of communalism,” he remarked.

Singh, however, spared Communist party of India (Marxist) leader H K S Surjeet. “Except Mulayam Singh and the Samajwadi Party, we have great regard for all secular parties and their leaders,” he said.

Surjeet, though, was not as magnanimous. He criticised the Congress for being adamant about forming the government on its own. He also blamed the Left’s allies, the Revolutionary Socialist Party and Forward Bloc and the SP, for giving communal forces an advantage.

The AIADMK, which has gained little out of the fall of the Vajpayee government, went on the defensive. Its leader S R Muthiah was not prepared to take the blame for the dissolution of the Lok Sabha. “We withdrew support to the government in the interest of national security,” he said.

Asked about the failure of the “secular front” to form an alternative government, he said, “Our mission has been successful. We were able to pull down the government in the interest of national security.”

Former prime minister and Janata Dal leader H D Deve Gowda, who had reportedly harboured visions of returning to the top job, welcomed the dissolution of the Lok Sabha. But his party chief Sharad Yadav termed the decision to dissolve the House as “unfortunate.”

Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy, the architect of the Vajpayee government’s collapse, seemed to be more bothered about Tamil Nadu. “The electorate of Tamil Nadu will give a resounding victory to the Front… The pathetic surrender and policy bankruptcy of the DMK will be revealed in the poll results,” he said.