KOZHIKODE: By stating that he won’t change his style of functioning, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has mocked the people of the state and his words reveal his feudal mindset, KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran said here on Saturday.
If any person deserves an international award for arrogance, it is the Chief Minister, Mullappally said. The Chief Minister had once ordered mediapersons to ‘get out’. Now people of the state have given him the same marching orders in the election. In the wake of the LDF’s electoral rout, Pinarayi should demit office and there is no better day to do it than the LDF government’s third anniversary which falls on Saturday, he said.
Mullappally urged the Chief Minister to be realistic and assess the election results in a factual manner. “Pinarayi says Sabarimala issue had no impact. But the fact is, it went hugely in our favour. Voters backed the stance of UDF on the Sabarimala issue as they realised both LDF and BJP were merely trying to reap political benefit out of it,” he added.
The Congress state chief blamed Pinarayi and CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan for torpedoing attempts to forge a grand alliance of secular-democratic forces in the run-up to the polls. “The Chief Minister and Kodiyeri insulted Rahul Gandhi when he chose to contest from Wayanad. But the Congress chief showed political dignity and did not attack the CPM. Rahul was careful not to undermine the coming together of secular forces to unitedly take on the BJP, he added.
Mullappally reminded the Chief Minister his earlier statement that the election results would also be a referendum on the state government’s performance.
“If the Chief Minister has any element of sincerity, he should take moral responsibility and quit his post in the wake of the electoral drubbing,” he demanded.
The Congress chief also trained his guns on the NDA saying as many as 13 candidates of the saffron alliance had lost their election deposits. BJP’s K Surendran, who the NDA believed would win, came third in Pathanamthitta, he added.
“This shows the soil of Kerala is not conducive for the growth of BJP,” added Mullappally.