KOZHIKODE: There will not be any consolidation of minority votes in favour of UDF across the state due to Rahul Gandhi’s candidature from Wayanad, CPM politburo member MA Baby said here on Tuesday.
“The minorities will realise the ‘evil intention’ behind the Congress’ decision to field Rahul Gandhi against the Left in the state instead of taking on the BJP,” he said. “If the intension is to fight the BJP, then shouldn’t the Congress do so in the saffron party’s stronghold? At a time when the LDF is carrying out its responsibility of fighting the Sangh Parivar here, why is Rahul Gandhi turning against the Left?” Baby asked.
On Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s “virus” remarks against IUML, Baby said the statement was ‘politically vulgar’. “Rahul Gandhi, who is fighting the election with Muslim League support, should remember what Jawaharlal Nehru said about the party. Nehru had called the League a dead horse,” said Baby.
On the possibility of vote trading between Congress and the BJP, Baby said politically conscious voters would defeat such moves. “The voters of Malabar had defeated such tacit deals between both parties and the Muslim League in the early 1990s and now voters across the state will do so,” he said. The CPM leader said the UDF and BJP have reached an understanding on vote trading in many constituencies. However, large scale defection of leaders from the Congress to BJP was not happening in the state as the Left enjoys a strong position here, he said.
Baby also criticised the election manifestos of both the Congress and the BJP for offering nothing to the farmers and working class.