By IANS
Nagpur : Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary A.B. Bardhan Sunday said he was the only Left representative who knew United Progressive Alliance (UPA) presidential candidate Pratibha Patil at a UPA-Left meeting that finalised her candidature.
"I must confess that none of the three other Left representatives attending the meeting – Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and D. Raja of my own party – knew Pratibha Patil," Bardhan told reporters here.
Referring to the 'malicious campaign' being run against Patil, however, the CPI leader appealed to the political parties not to bring down the presidential election to the level of municipal polls.
"Old issues are being raked up and unsubstantiated charges made against Pratibha Patil though there is no charge sheet or first information report (FIR) against her anywhere," Bardhan said.
The CPI leader suggested that it would be in the fitness of things to start according due respect to the presidential candidate right away as her election to the august office is almost certain now.
Hitting out at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani who called for withdrawal of a 'tainted' Pratibha Patil's candidature, Bardhan wondered whether the he has forgotten that he wore a 'taint' of a CBI charge sheet while holding the office of deputy prime minister in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
Referring to the BJP's effort to corner the UPA candidate over alleged irregularities in the women's cooperative bank that she founded in Jalgaon, Maharashtra, Bardhan asked whether the party was bothered about the many malpractices in the cooperative societies in Gujarat where it rules.
Admitting that Pratibha Patil was neither an 'economic expert nor an efficient bank executive', Bardhan said it was unfair to say that the 'simple' lady patronised or connived at the irregularities in the bank or other institutes run by her relatives.
The CPI leader also clarified that Pratibha Patil was a UPA candidate supported by the Left parties and not the 'UPA-Left candidate as the media has made out'.