DIC(K)'s policy costs NCP its share in LDF

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 13 (UNI) Left Democratic Front (LDF)Convenor Vaikom Viswam today said the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was expelled from the Front as it was felt that the NCP, after the Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran)'s merger with it, will adhere to the DIC(K)'s policies, which were against Left ideologies.

Even though DIC(K) had merged with the NCP, differed from the policies of the Left, he told reporters here. In this changed political situation, he said it was felt that the NCP should go out of the LDF.

However, Mr Vishwam said that Mr Karunakaran and NCP president K Muraleedharan's campaign during the recent Thiruvambady bypolls had helped the LDF candidate to win.

''The LDF has always welcomed those who had come forward to fight the wrong policies of the UDF. It does not mean that they would be made partners in the Front,'' he said.

On reports that the Left leadership had asked Mr Karunakaran to campaign for the LDF candidate at Thiruvambady, Mr Vishwom said he was not aware of it.

When asked if the decision would be reconsidered in the future, Mr Viswam said ''this is today's decision.'' To a question, he said the decision to expel the NCP from the LDF had nothing to do with the national-level alliance between the Left and the NCP.

Rejecting Opposition Leader Oommen Chandy's claim that the state government had entered into an agreement with the ADB without making any specific changes from the previous UDF government's stand, he said the agreement was signed after several things which could have been against the common people, were removed.

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