Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Ramesh Chennithala said here on Wednesday that the United Democratic Front (UDF) could register a massive victory in the Piravom byelection because of the unstinted support extended to it by secular forces and people belonging to various religious and caste sections.
“We consider the election outcome as a clear mandate for the Oommen Chandy government and its welfare programmes. The verdict also impinges on the UDF to work united and present good governance,” he said at a press conference here soon after the announcement of the result.
Mr. Chennithala said the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Left Democratic Front it led had bent backwards to appease caste and communal forces in the byelection. CPI(M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan's allegation that the UDF had pandered to caste and religious forces was baseless and an affront to the verdict delivered by the people of the constituency.
He accused the CPI(M) leadership of having pumped in huge amounts of money in the byelection. The party's leaders spent most of their time doing rounds in bishops' houses soliciting votes. The KPCC president also attributed the victory to the electorate's goodwill towards the Oommen Chandy government. The Marxists leaders had claimed that the election would be a referendum on the UDF government. The UDF had welcomed such an assessment, but he had gone one step further to state that the election would be an evaluation of the Opposition's performance.
The electorate, in a way, acknowledged the contributions of the late T.M. Jacob. In reply to a question, Mr. Chennithala said the Piravom byelection also highlighted the deep-rooted schism in the CPI(M), despite its leadership's claims to the contrary. The party had to import campaign managers from Kannur. The frontline CPI(M) leaders of Ernakulam district were never to be seen in the mainstream electioneering in the constituency. The resignation of R. Selvaraj from his Neyyattinkara seat served well to highlight the faction feud in the CPI(M). The UDF, on the other side, presented a united face, with a disciplined campaigning.
He said Mr. Anoop Jacob, who notched up a creditable victory in Piravom, would find a berth in the Ministry, but it was the prerogative of the Chief Minister to allocate the portfolio. With regard to the fifth Minister for the Indian Union Muslim League, he said the Congress and the UDF had not discussed the issue.
