RSP general secretary T J Chandrachoodan said that the UPA Government has politicised the presidential election with the aim of placing a political manipulator in the post, as they expect a hung Parliament during the 2014 general elections.
Speaking at the Press Club here on Thursday, he said that RSP does not agree with Pranab Mukherjee’s claim that the President’s post is apolitical. Neither BJP and allies nor Congress and allies would gain a clear majority in the 2014 elections and the President’s role would be crucial in the formation of the new government.
Moreover, the President becomes powerful during emergencies, he said.
Criticism against CPM, Forward Bloc
“At a time when the left parties are leading joint protest programmes against the policies of the UPA, the CPM and Forward Bloc should not have made the decision to support Pranab Mukherjee who played a major role in making Indian economy a satellite of the western capitalistic world. His role was perhaps second only to that of Manmohan Singh,” he said. Supporting a candidate with consensus majority is the trend of bourgeois parties and the Left parties should have abstained from the elections to make a political statement against the UPA Government. “Left parties had supported UPA I to keep the BJP out of power. But at present no such situation prevails. The BJP’s candidate has hardly any chance to win,” he said. However, he added that the differences between Left parties in the presidential elections would not affect the joint protest programmes planned against the UPA from July-end in Delhi.