Faced with the CPI(M)’s accusation of fielding weak candidates in some constituencies to help the Congress, and also of being part of a grand ‘Co-Le-B’ (Congress-League-BJP) alliance, the BJP in Kerala has retorted with allegations of a ‘Co-Ma’ (Congress-Marxist) alliance.
At the party’s poll convention in Attingal to launch Shobha Surendran’s campaign on Friday, party leaders spent considerable time responding to these allegations.
Credentials
Kummanam Rajasekharan, former BJP State president and candidate in the Thiruvananthapuram constituency, spoke about the credentials of the candidates accused of being weak.
“CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan claims that we have fielded weak candidates in six constituencies to help the Congress. What does he mean by weak? Is it because they are not as stout as Kodiyeri? V.K. Sajeevan, whom they claim to be a weak candidate, has contested from Vadakara before too. Kollam candidate K.V. Sabu was the president of the minority morcha for a long time and has contested twice before. All these accusations show that the CPI(M) is confused and are taking an anticipatory bail ahead of their defeat. I will ask these candidates to eat ‘Chyawanprash’ if they are indeed weak physically,” he said. He said that the Congress and CPI(M) need not field separate candidates as they are both supporting Rahul Gandhi outside Kerala.
Veiled references
T.P. Senkumar, former DGP and leader of the Sabarimala Karma Samithi, said that there was no need of an ‘adjustment’ for Mr. Rajasekharan to win in Thiruvananthapuram. He claimed that the BJP would win with more than 50% of the votes in all the 20 constituencies.
Though the Election Commission had cautioned against the use of Sabarimala for election campaign, there were quite a few veiled references to the State government’s ‘discrimination’ against a particular section ‘using a Supreme Court order,’ as well as ‘Swamiye Sharanamayyappa’ chants from the crowd.
