Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State unit secretary Pinarayi Vijayan has said the SNC-Lavalin case is a dead issue that cannot be resurrected by anyone and calculations of using it to corner the CPI(M) in the coming Lok Sabha elections is only wishful thinking.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday on his arrival in the district leading the Kerala Raksha March, Mr. Vijayan said the trail court had rejected the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) charge-sheet against him because it did not even qualify for trail. “This is in spite of the fact that the court had heard all the contentions of the CBI,” he said.
He alleged that the indefinite fast in front of the Secretariat by K.K. Rema, wife of slain Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader T.P. Chandrasekharan, was a Congress sponsored exercise. It was also supported by an anti-CPI(M) coterie comprising communal forces, anti-national outfits, and bogus Left parties.
Even if such forces joined hands, they would not be able to upset the rising popular mood against the Congress and the communal forces, he said.
Mr. Vijayan said the pre-Lok Sabha election shifts being witnessed at the national level political scenario were creating a favourable political climate for the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala. “This will result in the Congress drawing a blank from the State in the coming Lok Sabha elections,” he said.
In fact, the whole political climate of the country was one favouring a Left-secular alternative, he said.
Ten such Left and secular parties had now joined the political alternative being formed against both the Congress and the Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP). Mr. Vijayan said that more like-minded political parties would join this alternative in the coming days.
When asked about the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) demanding the Kollam Lok Sabha seat, Mr. Vijayan said the LDF leadership would collectively decide on it.
He alleged that the United Democratic Front (UDF) government had engaged in criminal apathy by failing to call the customary pre-Union Budget meeting of the MPs from the State. Such a meeting was always called to collectively present the demands of the State vis-à-vis the Budget. Failing to call the meeting only reflected the attitude of the Oommen Chandy government towards the people, he said.
