Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala has said that Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s allegation that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) have an understanding in five Lok Sabha seats reveals the latter’s nervousness.
Mr. Chennithala said in his address at the UDF’s election convention at Kanhangad here on Thursday that the CPI(M) State secretary was taking anticipatory bail as his statement showed that he had no hope in five seats. Mr. Chennithala was referring to Mr. Balakrishnan’s allegation that the RSS had directed the NDA to field weak candidates in Vadakara, Kollam, Kannur, Kozhikode and Ernakulam seats.
Stating that the ‘CoLeaB’ (Congress-League-BJP) was an old ploy of the CPI(M) to mislead voters, Mr. Chennithala said the secular-minded people could see the fact. He said that both the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the BJP entertained the same goal of reduction in the number of Congress members in Parliament. In Koothuparamba, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had managed to win in the 1977 election with just 5,000 votes with the support of the Jana Sangh.
The Congress leader said that the Sabarimala issue was part of a game plan of the CPI(M) to help the BJP grow in the State and weaken the UDF. He said the Congress was the only political party to take up the issue of women entering Sabarimala to the Supreme Court again with a review petition
Mr. Chennithala alleged that the CPI(M)’s offices were being used to sexually abuse women. Whenever, a party worker abused a woman, the CPI(M) would try to cover up instead of registering a police case, he said.