New United Democratic Front (UDF) convener Benny Behanan has said the RSS-BJP was the number one enemy of the UDF and the Congress in the coming Lok Sabha election.
Addressing a meet-the-press programme here under the auspices of the Thiruvananthapuram Press Club on Friday, Mr. Behanan said the CPI(M) did not figure anywhere in the current process of forming a coalition platform against the BJP rule.
The CPI(M) was confined only to Kerala and its main objective was to demolish the Congress. The question before voters was not which party or force would come to power in the next Lok Sabha election, but whether the country would be able to retain its secular and democratic heritage rooted in its diversity.
The Narendra Modi and Pinarayi Vijayan governments were steeped in corruption, with lack of transparency in their functioning styles. While the Modi government was being haunted by the Rafale deal, the Pinarayi government was under fire for giving sanction for breweries and a distillery in a secret manner.
The CPI(M) had no right to criticise the BJP government for the steep hike in petrol prices as it had refused to provide relief to the people by foregoing additional tax revenue, Mr. Behanan said.
Mr. Behanan criticised the State government for its shortcomings in flood relief and rehabilitation. There was no justification for the salary challenge, which ended up forcing government employees to compulsorily contribute to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund. The government could have adopted several other fund mobilisation methods, including reducing expenditure.
He said the UDF, contrary to its practice, had launched preparations for the Lok Sabha in a big way. Conventions were held in 17 Parliament constituencies and the remaining three would be held in the next few days. The entire UDF structure from the booth upwards would be revamped since the priority was to put up a better performance in the Lok Sabha election, he added.