KASARGOD: KPCC president V M Sudheeran said that the Congress party might face anti-incumbency factor in the next Assembly elections and asked the workers to be ready to work ‘extra time’.
Speaking at district Congress convention, he told the party workers that there was no time to rest.
“To repeat our performance of the parliamentary elections, you (party workers) will have to work extra time. The party may face the discontent of the people against the government,” he said, without specifying the shortcomings of the government.Sudheeran said that the UDF has a good chance to return to power if the workers take to people ‘the good works of the government such as prohibition’. In an attempt to lay to rest the controversy that the new liquor policy is an outcome of differences between Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and him, Sudheeran said that the new liquor policy was not a spontaneous decision of the party, but opportunely announced.
He said, “Prohibition as a policy was first initiated by K Karunakaran when he was the Chief Minister.
A K Antony took it forward and now Chandy is implementing it.” Karunakaran wanted to phase out liquor in Kerala and Antony had banned arrack.
He said the state was in the grip of alcohol addiction and narcotics, and the social gain because of prohibition would set off the revenue loss. Though several party workers the ‘Express’ spoke to at the convention were not convinced on total prohibition, the KPCC president urged them to work towards the success of the policy. More than 700 booth presidents and 41 mandalam presidents attended the convention and took oath of office.
Sudheeran said that the recent by-poll election results in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and before that in Bihar were a ‘big setback to BJP’s managers who were pitting one Indian against another for electoral gains.’
He said that democracy meant secularism, and without secularism there was no democracy.The BJP government came to power selling lots of dreams to the people. “Now after 100 days, they have nothing to show except price rise and 600 communal conflicts in the country,” he said. Sudheeran said that the CPM was wedded to violent politics and there was no introspection about it in the party. “People thought that the CPM would stop with the murder of TP ( Chandrasekharan). But they were mistaken.