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Only Congress can provide a secular alternative, says Moopanar

Tamil Maanila Congress leader G K Moopanar today reiterated that the Congress party alone could form an alternative and secular government at the Centre.

"Tell me, is there any other party?" he quipped, while talking to newsmen after a meeting with his partymen at the party headquarters, Satyamoorthy Bhavan in Madras.

"But I do not know if the Congress is willing to head the government," he added.

Moopanar said his meeting with Sonia Gandhi at New Delhi on Monday was "only a courtesy call". The meeting with her had nothing to do with the merger of his party with the Congress, he asserted.

Asked about Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav's offer of support to a government headed by the Congress, he said, "what is new about it? The United Front and Congress have always been together."

Asked if the TMC would strive to install a Congress-led government at the Centre, Moopanar said it would not be possible for a small party like his.

Answering a question on the longevity of the BJP-led government at the Centre, he quipped: "I bless them that they should last five years, and remain united without any bickering among themselves".

Asked why he was not invited for the United Front rally at Hyderabad on Monday, he said he did not see any special reason behind it nor would he take exception to it.

When pointed out that his party's electoral ally, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had also not been invited, he said, "I don't know why the DMK was also not invited. Please ask them."

Asked if this was a move by the influential left parties in the UF to sideline regional parties, Moopanar shot back: "It does not mean that. Why should they sideline the regional parties?"

UNI

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