KOCHI: With polling progressing in seven districts, the CPM district secretary P Rajeeve, District Congress Committee president VJ Paulose and BJP district president PJ Thomas sat under one roof on Monday and put forth their views on the important issues in the civic polls and its political relevance.
Three leaders agreed on one point- the campaigning in the civic polls dealt in depth with national and state issues as prominently as local subjects. However, they chose to differ on almost all other issued discussed at the ‘Janasabha’ organised by the Ernakulam Press Club.
VJ Paulose,DCC president
District Congress Committee (DCC) president VJ Paulose said that the Congress will better its performance in the district. The attempts of the opposition to rake up false allegations and to create confusion among voters will not succeed, he said. People will vote for the development track record of the UDF.
The DCC president dismissed the alleged comments made by others on Mayor Tony Chammany’s comments that the Congress party was not cooperative with the council in the early part of its rule. “ The party had extended all support to the council. The comments are not true,” he stated.
Asked about rebel trouble in the Congress, the Congress leader said that it was not new to the party and said that even the CPM was facing the same trouble. “ Some leaders and councilors can not just wait for another five years,” he said in a light tone.
P Rajeeve, CPM district secretary
Attacking the Congress and the BJP alike, CPM district secretary P Rajeeve said that the Congress has utterly failed to check the advance of the BJP and its communal agenda and alleged that Congress workers and leaders are flowing from its fold to the saffron brigade. The BJP and its fringe brigades are adding more animals to their list of bans, Rajeeve ridiculed. “ Besides cow, they are now saying that buffalo meat should also be banned. Soon, this will expand to fish- as it is one of the avatars of Vishnu- and pork among others,” the CPM district secretary said. Congress leaders, including senior leader Digvijay Singh, was very quick to claim credit for banning cow slaughter in many states, he pointed out.
P J Thomas, BJP district president
BJP district president PJ Thomas claimed that the BJP has fielded the maximum number of candidates in the state with nearly 1,700 candidates in the district alone. “ The poll outcome will be a turning point in the history of the state as it will see the BJP take off and soar high,” he said. The BJP district president said that the BJP was dragged into the beef controversy and that the party was blamed for the handiwork of a few organisations that had no connection with the BJP. He confessed that the beef controversy has badly affected the party in the poll campaigning. “ Ban on cow slaughter is not a new thing. It was one of the directive principles of the Constitution and it was the Congress that brought the ban in many states,” he noted.
PJ Thomas also said that it was the responsibility of the governments to deal strictly with the organisations like Sreeramsena, Hindu Sena that take law in their hands.