THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Stung by the pre-poll surveys, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala on Sunday criticised the media houses in general in strong terms for whitewashing the state government by predicting a win for LDF. Each survey result was an attempt to give a good certificate to a government which had been involved in a slew of corrupt activities. And the survey results were the thanksgiving by these media houses to the government for the advertisements costing around ` 200 crore given to them, he said.
“In the last parliament elections too, several pre-poll survey results were published and the surveyors were seen nowhere when the election results were announced. There is also a move to tarnish the image of the Opposition leader who has relentlessly questioned the state government over a host of corruption charges. The allegations were levelled against the state government based on solid evidence and the state government had to yield to the demands of the Opposition later,” he said.
“The CPM couldn’t damage my reputation and if you think my image can be tarnished through a number of pre-poll surveys, you are wrong,” he told the media. The UDF does not trust these pre-poll surveys and it has faith only in the people’s mandate, he added.Ahead of the elections, almost all pre-poll survey results released have predicted a comfortable win for the LDF government in Kerala.
Chennithala also flayed the CPM leadership on the Sabarimala issue, saying it was the LDF government and the chief minister who had created the issues, and not the Supreme Court.“The chief minister says that the government will hold talks after the verdict comes? He should be withdrawing the affidavit submitted by his government at the Supreme Court first. He should clarify before the people whether he favours women’s entry into the Sabarimala temple or not,” added Chennithala.
Chennithala has handed over details of bogus voters in 64 constituencies to the chief electoral officer so far. On Monday, he will be giving details of over four lakh fake names in the voters’ list in 69 more constituencies. He said he will lodge a complaint with the Central Election Commission too in this regard.