Hyderabad: Continuing his tirade against politicians, former Chief Election Commissioner J M Lyngdoh today (Feb 15, 2004) said the present-day political parties were bereft of any ideology and all of them were pursuing "market ideology".

"There is not much of distinction from one party to the other. All of them are going by market ideology," Lyngdoh remarked while speaking at his first public function after demitting office.

Lyngdoh, whose description of politicians as "cancer" had created ripples in political circles, sounded unrepentant when he said the existing parties lacked ideology.

The former CEC, who has made Hyderabad his post-retirement home, was speaking after releasing a Telugu book 'People's Manifesto' written by popular author and publisher C Narasimha Rao.

Taking a dig at political parties, he said they suffer from what he called "litigant psychology" and create obstacles for political rivals.

"If the Opposition party loses an election, it will create hurdles in the way of ruling party and vice-versa," Lyngdoh said and likened the political parties to a litigant who approaches a higher court after losing the case in lower court.

He called upon parties to abide by the rules and accept defeats with grace and dignity.

On bureaucrats planning to enter politics, he said, "They will become like petty politicians if they join politics."