With just a few days left for the elections, the leaders of Left Democratic Front, United Democratic Front and Bharatiya Janata Party came face to face in Kannur during a programme organised by the Kannur Press Club, here on Monday.
CPI(M) district secretary M.V. Jayarajan, Congress district president Satheesan Pacheni and BJP district president N. Haridasan, who are in the forefront of the elections, expressed their views and hope for victory in the elections.
‘Secular stance’
Mr. Jayarajan said that the LDF was facing the elections by projecting its stance against communalism. The Congress, which had allied with the religious organisations, would not be able to counter the communal politics of the Modi government.
The alternative to the BJP was the Left. The Bihar elections were proof of this, he said, adding that the UDF alliance with the Welfare Party would be opposed by secularists.
He said the development programmes of the State government would also be an issue in the elections. Pension for farmers, floor prices for vegetables, and raising schools to international standards were the achievements of the State government.
The LDF would win more institutions, seats, and votes in the election. Mr. Jayarajan said that with the entry of Kerala Congress (M) and LJD into the LDF, the mass base had increased.
With regard to the gold smuggling case, he said those involved in the illegal activity would be brought before the law. The party had nothing to hide in this regard.
UDF alleges intimidation
Mr. Pacheni said that the CPI(M) was using the tactics of intimidation and subjugation in an attempt to win the election.
The audio of a CPI(M) local leader threatening against the setting up of a campaign board in the yard of a candidate’s house in the Chief Minister's native place had gone viral on the social media.
He was confident that the UDF would win a landslide victory in the election in the district. Mr. Pacheni said that the Left Front, which ruled the Kannur Corporation for four years, had undermined development. But the people had benefited from the one-year rule of the UDF. The district panchayat was not doing anything to solve the drinking water problem.
Fronts a failure: BJP
BJP district president N. Haridas said that the people had come to realise that the Left Front and UDF were responsible for the developmental backwardness of the State.
The main slogan of the BJP in the elections was development. The Congress government that has ruled the country for 60 years and the UPA government that has ruled the country with the support of the CPI(M) were governments that had done nothing for the progress of the country. But the Narendra Modi government that has ruled the country for the past 6 years had brought about amazing developments in the country, he said.
Most of the development work in the State was the administrative achievements of the Narendra Modi government. The Left and the UDF were putting forward what they had been saying for the past 25 years and this time as a manifesto in the elections.
Mr. Haridas said that the people who had realised the betrayal by the Left and UDF would support the the NDA.
