LDF leaders remain unimpressed

Though Rahul spares CPI(M), the front will go all out against him in Wayanad

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan addressing an election campaign meeting at Chavara in the Kollam Parliamentary constituency on Thursday.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s decision to spare the Communist Party of India (Marxist) during his electioneering in the State does not seem to have enthused Left Democratic Front leaders and they are in no mood to relent.

CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan deems Mr. Gandhi’s statement as a strategy to avert strong public resentment and an electoral setback in the State. “It stems out of a realisation that targeting the party and the LDF that have put up stiff resistance to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh would cost the United Democratic Front and the Congress dear in the election,” Mr. Balakrishnan told The Hindu .

“Mr. Gandhi should clarify whether the policies of the LDF and the CPI(M) had any flaws. His decision to contest from Wayanad, where the Bharatiya Janata Party is not a force to reckon with, has sent a wrong message. Mr. Gandhi’s fight is not even against the Bharatiya Janata Party, but its ally, the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena, and that is proof of the unethical political stance of the Congress,” he said.

CPI critical

CPI State secretary Kanam Rajendran too was equally critical. “After deciding to take on the LDF in Kerala what does he mean by saying that he would spare the CPI(M)? He might have entrusted the local Congress leaders to lash out at the LDF. This sounds strange. Anyway we are determined to give a strong challenge to Mr. Gandhi,” he said.

No change in stance: LDF

LDF convener A. Vijayaraghavan takes it as a ploy of speech writers. “Mr. Gandhi’s decision to contest from Kerala under the tutelage of the Indian Union Muslim League has empowered the BJP to target him. After picking up the LDF as his prime target,what is the point in softening his stance? The LDF will not relent and there is no change in our stance,” Mr. Vijayaraghavan said.

The LDF leaders seemed to be slightly bemused by Mr. Gandhi’s debut contest from the State, but very soon they reiterated their resolve to muster all available resources to tone up the campaign against Mr. Gandhi and the UDF.

The perception that the Congress decision to take on the LDF in Wayanad has blunted a determined bid to form a secular alternative to the Bharatiya Janata Party at the national level will be the focal point of the front’s campaign and it would be intensified in the next phases, sources said.