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Cong will never support Basu as PM: Antony

Congress Working Committee member A K Antony today said the Congress would not support a government with Jyoti Basu as prime minister after the elections.

Talking to newsmen in Thiruvananthapuram, he said the Congress in Kerala would oppose any move to form a government under the leadership of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) at the Centre.

"If a CPI (M)-led government comes to power at the Centre, that will see the end of democracy in the country," he said, adding that he was making such a statement only because of his experience with the style of functioning of the Marxists in Kerala.

Antony, who had served as chief minister twice, said the CPI (M) in Kerala was a "fascist party."

He alleged that the CPI (M) had indulged in largescale rigging and impersonation, besides letting loose violence, during the September 11 polling in Alapuzha, Kannur and Kasaragod Lok Sabha constituencies and demanded a judicial inquiry into the incidents.

Antony, who returned after a tour of the areas where irregularities had allegedly been committed by the Marxists during polling, alleged that the CPI (M) had criminalised the recent elections to such an extent that it put the organised mafia gangs of Bihar to shame.

UNI

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