Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan and Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan have come down heavily on the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leadership for its decision to switch sides on election eve.
Inaugurating the election conventions of Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidates in the State capital and in Kollam on Sunday, the two leaders accused the RSP of having betrayed the LDF after having remained with it for over three decades.
While the CPI(M) State secretary said the decision to leave the LDF was taken by State leaders of the party keeping party general secretary T.J. Chandrachoodan as ‘a silent witness’, Mr. Achuthanandan accused the RSP leaders of having forgotten their struggles of the last three decades in just one day. The two MLAs of the party, elected as representatives of the LDF, should resign in the light of their party’s decision to join the UDF, he said.
The RSP, Mr Vijayan said while inaugurating LDF’s Thiruvananthapuram candidate Bennet Abraham’s election convention, is on a path of self-destruction.
Mr. Achuthanandan said it was hard to believe that RSP leader N.K. Premachandran, who had played a pivotal role as LDF spokesman on several issues, including the solar scam case, had moved to the United Democratic Front (UDF) camp. He had taken part in the siege of the Secretariat by LDF cadres in protest against the solar scam.
He was speaking after inaugurating the convention of LDF candidate from Kollam M.A. Baby. Along with Mr. Premachandran, two RSP MLAs, who won from their constituencies under the LDF label, had also crossed over to the UDF.
“The two MLAs, A.A. Azeez and Kovur Kunjumon who had also crossed over the the United Democratic Front (UDF). should follow the example set by the Neyyattinkara MLA Selvaraj, who resigned when he left the LDF and sought the mandate of the Neyyattinkara voters when he joined the Congress.” Congress leaders who project the UDF as the true symbol of democracy have the duty to make the two RSP MLAs resign and face the electorate, he said.
While Chief Minister Oommen Chandy appeals to voters to back the UDF candidates claiming that the people were content with the UDF rule, why is he maintaining a puzzling silence on the solar scam? Mr. Achuthanandan said the plight of the Congress was such that the party was unable to take its Idukki candidate to the voters.
In order to ensure the continuation of the democratic and secular traditions of the nation and also ensure a corruption-free rule in the country, candidates of the Left and secular forces from the four Left parties and seven regional parties should be elected. In this context the voters of Kollam should elect Mr. Baby with a massive mandate, he said amidst thunderous applause from LDF cadres and leaders who thronged the venue.
The meeting was also addressed by LDF leaders Pannian Raveendran and Kadanapally Ramachandran.