Left parties are co-passengers of BJP-driven vehicle : Moily

New Delhi, July 18 (UNI) In a clear indictment of the Left Parties for readying themselves to vote with the BJP against the UPA govenment, the Congress today reminded the Red brigade that the saffron party'' is in the driver's seat and all others are only co-passengers''.

"We thought he is a man of ideology," AICC General Secretary in charge of Media Veerappa Moily told mediapersons, while criticising CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat for deciding to vote against the government in the company of the "communal BJP".

He charged the Left parties with trying to "give power to the BJP-led NDA".

Asserting that the UPA government would sail through the July 22 trust vote, Mr Moily said the government would get the support of 280 plus members in the Lok Sabha with an effective strength of 542.

Replying to a question, he maintained that the UPA government was never a minority dispensation, even after the Left parties withdrew their outside support.

He said the people of the country were with the Congress. In this context, he highlighted out the huge turnout at a public meeting addressed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi at Nellore in Andhra Pradesh yesterday.

Mr Moily also denied as rumours the reports that some Congress MPs would defect to the rival camp and vote against the government.

He refuted the reports of horse-trading indulged in by the Congress to muster majority support to the government, and said, "it is the rival camp which is trying to destabilise the government and the democracy." Asked if the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha would support the government, Mr Moily said, "the JMM is part and parcel of the ruling UPA coalition." UNI SH PK RK1545