THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Expressing profound gratitude to people who gave a thumbing victory to LDF in local-body elections, CM Pinarayi Vijayan has said the overwhelming public mandate underscored secular mindset of Kerala and people’s unflinching confidence in LDF’s ability to fight communalism.
“Kerala has reckoned that only LDF puts up a brave fight against communalism and stands for secularism,” Vijayan said on Wednesday.
Coming down heavily on Congress-led UDF, Vijayan said the front paid a heavy price for its retrograde stance and camaraderie with ultra-organisations like Jamaat-e-Islami. “BJP too has felt a bloody blow in the elections as they failed to achieve the political gains they claimed they would make. The predicament that Congress party finds itself in stems from their inability to resist and challenge BJP,” he said.
Vijayan said the resounding victory by the LDF proved that voters rejected with disdain the ‘malicious campaigns’ the opposition and a section of right-wing media unleashed against his government. “People have voted against those who tried to belittle the achievements made by Kerala,” he said.
UDF faced no drubbing, says Ramesh Chennithala
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has said the Congress- led UDF did not face any significant drubbing in local-body elections. “It’s true that the public angst against the LDF government did not reflect the way we all hoped it would. But that doesn’t mean that UDF lost everything. The only setback we did come across was in the election to district panchayats,’’ Chennithala said.
He said the mass base of UDF and Congress has not eroded as claimed by political opponents. “We still have the chances to come to power in three corporations,’’ he said.
The opposition leader said the LDF used to hold sway over local body elections for long and it did not mean that the LDF government has earned the public confidence. “The performance of UDF has been more or less the same in local body elections, barring the one held in 2010,’’ he added.