Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) general secretary T.J. Chandrachoodan has said that though the resignation of Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA R. Selvaraj from the Assembly ahead of the Piravom bypoll was a big blow to the Left Democratic Front (LDF), the Opposition front would overcome it just as it had tackled even bigger challenges in the past.
Inaugurating the delegates' session of the RSP State conference here on Friday, Prof. Chandrachoodan described the resignation as the ‘biggest bomb' that could fall on the LDF at this juncture, but added that though the conspiracy of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) was well-timed, its leaders Oommen Chandy, K.M. Mani, P.K. Kunhalikutty, and Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan should well remember that the Left had overcome even bigger storms.
The ploy was an outcome of the UDF panicking over the Piravom bypoll, which by all means would turn out to be the Waterloo of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. All democratic values were being abused at Piravom, with cash distribution being the biggest threat to a free and fair poll. More unfortunate was the coming together of communal forces under the umbrella offered by Mr. Chandy, he said.
Prof. Chandrachoodan came down heavily on Mr. Chandy for his mass contact programme, questioning the Chief Minister's distribution of financial aid during the programme. Wanting to know who had given Mr. Chandy the permission to ‘dole out cash in the name of aid,' the RSP leader said Mr. Chandy had thrown into disarray the entire government machinery by doing things that were supposed to be done by Collectors and tahsildars. He should have made them do their jobs instead, he said.
Earlier, Prof. Chandrachoodan said it was time for introspection for Left parties in the country, because by offering support to the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, the Left had lost the space it enjoyed in the country's national political arena. This space was now being taken over by the likes of Anna Hazare. Various Left parties had turned their focus on taking up the cause of pilots, the IT sector, and teachers, and in the process, forgetting the downtrodden and the marginalised. The space that was lost was being usurped by naxalites. The absence of a Left front, on the lines of Kerala's LDF, was a glaring drawback at the national level with no common programme set forth for Left parties, he added.
Earlier, RSP Central Secretariat member K. Pankajakshan raised the flag to signal the start of the State meet. Manohar Tirkey, MP, RSP Central Secretariat member Manoj Bhattacharya, RSP State secretary V.P. Ramakrishna Pillai, and others also spoke.
