THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Left Democratic Front (LDF) will meet on July 28 amid allegations against the chief minister’s office in the gold smuggling case and awarding of consultancy contracts. At the meeting, the front is expected to finalise counter-campaigns to defend the government and the front.
“The Left front will discuss the ongoing political situation in the state. The front also has to finalise the political campaign for the local body elections,” said LDF convener A Vijayaraghavan.
The decision to hold the meeting was finalised during the bilateral discussions held between the CPM and the CPI on Saturday. Significantly, the CPM has also called another meeting of the personal staff of its ministers as part of an attempt to strictly enforce the code of conduct for them.
Party for vigil in awarding contracts to consultancies
The CPM state secretariat meeting had observed last week that the smuggling row had affected the party’s image and termed it a major setback. The party also wanted the government to maintain more vigil as far as awarding of consultancies is concerned.Even when CPM says it has nothing to hide and offered all support to the chief minister, CPI has expressed its dissent. The CPI is of the view that had the government followed its advice and removed M Sivasankar from the post soon after the Sprinklr row, it could have avoided the current embarrassment.
“The CPI feels such issues can be avoided if there’s no deviation from Left principles. As a government, we’ll have to go for consultancies to implement projects. But we also need to check whether awarding contracts to certain consultancies is in line with the Left politics,” said a senior Left leader.On Saturday, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Kanam Rajendran, the state secretaries of the CPM and the CPI, respectively, discussed the current political situation and finalised the meeting.