Kozhikode: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar on May 15 night charged Kerala Chief Minister A K Antony with being "too soft" on distribution of tridents by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in the state.

Antony did not prefer to ban distribution of tridents in the state as "he wants to go his leader (Sonia Gandhi's)'s way in adopting a soft hindutva approach," Pawar said inaugurating the party's three-day state conference.

"Antony must, in fact, show such kind of a soft attitude towards Karunakaran," he said in an apparent reference to the strained relations between the two Congress leaders.

Blaming the state government for its "failure" to avert the recent Marad incident that claimed nine lives, he alleged that the United Democratic Front (UDF) government failed to act swiftly inspite of advance intelligence reports.

He also accused the Congress at the national level of not launching a vehement attack against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government while other Opposition parties, including the NCP, were doing so.

PTI