The Hindu (Thiruvananthapuram)
Lok Sabha polls will be CPI(M)’s Waterloo, says Chennithala
There is no doubt that the Lok Sabha elections 2024 will be the Communist Party of India (Marxist)‘s [CPI (M)] Waterloo, said senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala here on Tuesday.
The people of Kerala have no reason to vote for the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the Lok Sabha elections because even Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has nothing to highlight about his government’s administrative success or any high points of the LDF rule in the State. At the same time, there are a thousand reasons for people not to vote for the LDF, Mr. Chennithala said.
The successes that came the way of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Thrikkakkara and Puthuppally byelections will be repeated in the Lok Sabha elections also. Strong antiincumbency feelings against the ruling Central and State governments and people’s disgust towards the communal polarisation policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Vijayan will be the highlight of this election, he said.
‘Silent pact’
The silent pact between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and CPI(M) and the BJP’s eorts to uproot the secular tenor in Kerala will not go down well in the State, said Mr. Chennithala, while addressing media persons.
As the campaigning goes into the nal rounds, the political situation currently existing in Kerala is very much in favour of the UDF, which is slated to win in all 20 Lok Sabha seats, he claimed.
The State’s people have been waiting for an opportunity to lash out against the LDF government, which is steeped in corruption and extortion, he said.
Corruption and violence has become the face of CPI(M). From the organised murder of J.S. Sidharthan, a student at the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences Universitythe student of College of Veterinary Sciences, at the hands of SFI activists to bomb manufacturing at Panoor, CPI(M) has never given up its penchant for violence. The Panoor bombs were clearly meant to upstage the elections, he said.
He said that the INDIA bloc will come to power at the Centre this time. During the last Lok Sabha elections, the National Democratic Alliance, which had 35% of the vote share, managed to come to power at the Centre because the remaining 65% votes were split. This time, consolidation of these votes will happen under the INDIA bloc.
Mr. Chennithala said it was unfortunate that the Chief Minister seemed to prefer to attack Rahul Gandhi, who was leading a erce ght against the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, while keeping quiet about Mr. Modi. Mr. Gandhi, who has been relentlessly hunted by the BJP, needs no validation from Mr. Vijayan, he added.