THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after Lok Sabha polls in Kerala, AICC general secretary (organization) K C Venugopal has levelled serious allegations against the CPM. Talking to reporters at Indira Bhavan, Venugopal alleged that there were deliberate attempts to create confusion in the poll process so that the polling percentage can be brought down.
The Congress state leadership had come out with such allegations within hours of the poll ending. On Saturday, it was the turn of Venugopal to intensify the party's protest. The central Congress leader alleged that there were attempts to hijack the poll process by the CPM and also by the LDF government.
"This is the first election in Kerala which saw the voters being harassed by the polling officials. We believe that those polling booths which saw large queues and inordinate delay in completing the process are those centres where UDF has dominance. Despite having adequate time to hold a smooth and fair election, the authorities created an utter mess of it. The voters who stood in the queue for five hours were not provided with even drinking water", said Venugopal.
A highly charged Venugopal exuded confidence that UDF will make a clean sweep of 20 seats in the State. He also came down heavily against CPM’s attempts to do bogus voting.
Reacting on the raging issue over LDF convener E P Jayarajan meeting senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar, Venugopal maintained that it’s nothing but a clear-cut deal hatched between the LDF and BJP.
“Jayarajan has been made a scapegoat so that the issue can be neutralized. The meeting has been held as per the directive of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. It’s very clear that a deal has been made between the two parties”, added Venugopal.