Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Ramesh Chennithala on Tuesday said Congress chief Rahul Gandhi contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Wayanad had created a pro-United Democratic Front wave in Kerala.
At a news conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Chennithala said the BJP had been rattled by the decision of a Prime Ministerial candidate to contest from Kerala. The CPI(M) was distressed due to the fear of losing the polls. The leaders of the CPI(M) and the BJP were speaking in the same voice and their party mouthpieces reflected the same anti-Congress stand, he added.
He said the Congress-led coalition would sweep the polls, winning all the 20 seats in Kerala. The blind anti- Congress attitude of the CPI(M) leadership in Kerala resulted in the CPI(M) and the Congress having no tie- up in the polls in West Bengal, he said.
Stating that Lok Sabha polls would be a referendum on the three-year rule of the Left Democratic Front, he said the handling of the Sabarimala issue would determine the outcome of the polls.
Atrocities against women and children had increased since the LDF came to power. Twenty-nine political murders had taken place and Congress workers had been the target of the killings recently, he added.
Modi govt. criticised
Mr. Chennithala said the polls would also be against the five-year misrule of the BJP-led government at the Centre. The Narendra Modi government was steeped in corruption, failed to provide jobs to the youths and its skewed economic policies led farmers to commit suicide, he added.
‘Against model code’
He said it was unbecoming of the Prime Minister to insult the people of Wayanad with his communal statements. His comments were a clear violation of the Model Code of Conduct. The Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues had been attacking the secular and democratic traditions of the country, said Mr. Chennithala.