Some radical elements in the political alliance known as the 2nd Khordad Front are advertently or unknowingly trying to tarnish the image of President Seyed Mohammad Khatami, and it is the responsibility of the alliance leaders to eliminate such elements.
In fact the people expect the alliance leaders like Secretary General of Islamic Revolution Mojahedin Organization, Mohammad Salamati, to rein back some extremists in the alliance like Akbar Ganji, who has been making baseless accusations against some government officials.
But it is very unfortunate that Salamati himself has also been trying to mislead the public opinion and create confusion in society by telling lies. At a debate sponsored by the University of Science and Technology on Monday, Salamati said, "The rightist faction has submitted a letter to the Supreme Court, declaring President Khatami incompetent to carry out his executive duties," according to the reporter of the Persian daily MI>IranD> who was present at the debate.
In response to Salamati's allegation, the Secretary General of the Islamic Society of Engineers, Mohammadreza Bohonar, who was also present at the debate said that such claims were part of a campaign to create confusion and foment discord in society.
However, on Tuesday Salamati denied the statement he had made in the previous day, saying that he had been misquoted by the media! Spreading rumors and telling lies by some members of the 2nd Khordad alliance will weaken the people's trust in the alliance as a whole and encourage the enemies in their propaganda against the Islamic Republic.
Healthy political rivalry is something common in all democracies across the world, but resorting to lies and spreading rumors aimed at getting the upper hand over the political rivals are condemned by all standards.
In particular, such wrong practices run counter to the principles of a civil society that some of these controversial figures belonging to the 2nd Khordad Front claim to be in favor of!