Opposition Leader Oommen Chandy on Wednesday said the UDF has issued guidelines to its local leadership for resolving seat sharing issues among coalition partners for the upcoming elections to the local bodies.
Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Chandy denied news reports that the coalition partners were at loggerheads over the seat sharing formula to be adopted. He said the Congress held full fledged bilateral discussions with all its constituents at a meeting here on Wednesday at the end of which the guidelines were formulated and approved by all. “There is no dispute. The correct position is that we have not taken a final decision (on seat sharing). This would be done according to these guidelines given to the local leaders,” he said.
Mr. Chandy said there was initially some confusion over the methodology to be followed. The meeting had reviewed the progress of the decentralised discussions at the local levels prior to formulating the guidelines. When asked about the dissatisfaction among the coalition partners, Mr. Chandy replied that it was not possible even for the Congress party to get all its demands conceded.
When asked about his views on the election outcome, Mr. Chandy said the 2009 Lok Sabha elections had already displayed the general mood of the electorate. But since then, the LDF Government’s functioning has been in a manner that has created more disaffection among the people, whether it is related to the lottery scam, hooch tragedy, implementation of plan schemes and utilisation of Central Government funds.
Mr. Chandy reiterated the UDF’s demand for a comprehensive judicial probe into the lottery scam. The recent disclosure of the Finance Minister T M Thomas Issac about the illegal lottery trade has made it all the more important to order a judicial probe, he said. The Minister claimed that the Government had evidence about the illegal lottery trade, but he continued to blame the Central Government instead of taking action under the recently promulgated ordinance bringing in more curbs on the functioning of other state lotteries.
The Minister had turned a blind eye to the illegal trade during the last four- and-half years, persistently stating that the State Government did not have the powers to take action. But once the lottery scam was exposed, the Minister suddenly discovered the State’s powers according to which now raids are being conducted, inspections are made at check posts and FIRs are being filed, Mr. Chandy said.
He alleged that the Finance Minister was afraid to agree to a judicial probe because of the corruption and irregularities in the conduct of other state lotteries. He was not willing to be specific in his charges against the Finance Minister, but maintained that the kind of funds that flowed in indicated to large scale corruption.
