Deve Gowda to Naidu: your statement 'is far from the truth'
Former prime minister and United Front
chairman H D Deve Gowda on Wednesday expressed his regret over Telugu Desam Party president Chandrababu Naidu's ''unilateral
decision'' to
dissociate from the United Front, and called for unity among the UF
constituents to strengthen the alliance.
In a letter to Naidu, Deve Gowda said it was more than ever
necessary for the UF and each of its constituents to come forward as
firm and consistent defenders of the secular fabric of India and its
federal democratic polity. ''We think that the UF needs to be
strengthened so that the hope of the people for this alternative is
sustained despite the temporary setback that the UF has suffered.''
Deve Gowda said the UF came into existence at a very crucial
time in the history of Indian politics and all the constituents,
despite differences in ideologies, laboured hard to provide a real
system of alternative governance in the country to preserve its
secular heritage ''from the offensive of communal and fundamentalist
forces.''
He denied Naidu's charge that the UF was taking unilateral
decisions behind his (Naidu's) back, and described it as ''far from
the truth.''
''The TDP had its ministers all through the UF government which
existed because of Congress support. Yet today, you, unfortunately,
are seeking to give the impression that the UF is taking unilateral
decisions behind your back. This is far from the truth, to say the
least.''
UNI
Elections '98
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