THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The silence at the headquarters of the largest cadre party in the state was palpable around Saturday afternoon, as disappointing election results poured in. The loss of four district panchayats, four corporations and nearly 200 grama panchayats had dented the spirits of party activists at AKG Centre.
Speaking to mediapersons, LDF convenor T P Ramakrishnan said the BJP coming to power in the Thiruvananthapuram corporation should not be trivialised. “We will examine the result in detail and take corrective measures, if necessary,” he said.
The setback is likely to be taken up at the party secretariat meeting on Monday, which would also be attended by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, sources said. What was particularly shocking was the loss of Thiruvananthapuram corporation and four district panchayats.
“We expected a triangular fight in Thiruvananthapuram corporation. As triangular fights generally tend to end in a pro-Left position, we were sure of our victory. We are yet to evaluate what went wrong,” a party official said.
Even the Sabarimala row did not have an impact in Thiruvananthapuram corporation, the source added. General Education Minister and former mayor V Sivankutty had expected the LDF to sweep the corporation by securing over 75 seats. “Another concern is the performance in grama panchayats, where we fell from 582 in 2020 to around 340 this year,” the official added.