The LDF suffered a significant drop in ''secular votes'' in the Lok Sabha election, CPI State secretary Kanam Rajendran has said.
Addressing a meet-the-press programme organised by the Thiruvananthapuram Press Club here on Saturday, Mr. Rajendran termed the 19-1 defeat in the polls ''unexpected.'' According to him, the UDF-BJP misinformation campaign on the Sabarimala issue also ate into the LDF's Hindu vote base.
''We will review the situation and take corrective steps,'' he said. Mr. Rajendran defended the LDF government's stand on implementing the Supreme Court verdict on Sabarimala women’s entry issue stating that a ''secular government can adopt only a secular stand.''
''The Congress and the BJP worked hard to create an impression that the LDF had declared a war on faith. Misconceptions among the people on the issue also may have led to a leak in votes,'' he said.
On the other hand, Mr. Rajendran declined to list out definite reasons for the defeat, stating that such conclusions could be arrived at only after comprehensive analysis. ''A political party can only arrive at a conclusion. It cannot jump to one,'' he said.
The CPI State executive meeting on June 6 and the State council meetings on June 12 and 13 would examine the reasons for the defeat, he said. At the national level, lack of unity among the opposition parties chiefly contributed to the rout, Mr. Rajendran said.
In their attempt to remove Narendra Modi as Prime Minister, mainstream parties did not attempt to forge unity among opposition parties, he said.
A person's style of functioning cannot be changed like changing one's shirt, he said. He was responding to a question on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's statement that he did not intend to change his style of functioning.
Mr. Vijayan had been active in Kerala politics for five decades. People made him the Chief Minister knowing fully well his style of functioning. The controversy was merely a media creation, Mr. Rajendran said.
