CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan has said that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s statement that the outcome of the Lok Sabha poll result will be a referendum on the performance of the UDF Government is a ploy to stop the erosion of vote banks under its fold.
Addressing an election meeting of LDF candidate Peelipose Thomas at Kodumon, near Adoor, on Wednesday, Pinarayi said that the UDF is facing all-round setback in the election and that the Congress will not send even a single nominee to the next Lok Sabha from the state.
“The people settled in hilly areas of Western Ghats are facing uncertainty owing to the Kasthurirangan report. The Chief Minister’s announcement on the draft report turned out to be a lie with the Centre’s latest announcement that the Kasthurirangan report of November 13 is the valid one,” the CPM leader said.
On the performance of the UDF Government Pinarayi Vijayan said that the common people in the state are facing severe hardships owing to the ant-people policies adopted by the UDF.
“The failure in the distribution of welfare pension, including those of destitute women, agriculture workers and other poorer sections, affected the families belonging to socially and economically weaker sections. The galloping prices of essential commodities, stalled public distribution system, huge arrears to be paid to the people, especially the women engaged in the employment guarantee schemes, have been hit badly the common people in the society,” he said.
Pinarayi said that the government has failed to address the basic problems of people, especially the people engaged in traditional sectors like cashew and coir. On fielding former DCC president Peelipose Thomas as the LDF candidate in the parliamentary constituency, Pinarayi Vijayan said he has clean a image in public life and stands for people’s cause, especially in fighting against the Aranmula project. “Though he was aware that the promoters of the airport project were having links with the Congress leadership, Peelipose joined the people’s agitation against the airport project,” he said.
Rejoins CPM
Veteran Communist leader R C Unnithan, who kept himself away from active politics for the last two decades, announced his return to the fold in the presence of the CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan.
Parliamentary constituency election committee secretary K N Balagopalan MP presided over the campaign meeting.
CPM district secretary K Anandagopan, state committee member R Unnikrishna Pillai, Chittayam Gopakumar MLA, A P Jayan and Mundappally Thomas were present at the meeting.