The United Democratic Front (UDF) has not entered into any sort of discussion on the ensuing Assembly byelection in Kuttanad, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Mullappally Ramachandran has said. He was was talking to reporters at Charalkunnu, near Kozhencherry, on Thursday. “The UDF will win the bypoll. But, no coalition partner is supposed to unilaterally announce its candidate. The UDF will announce its candidate in one voice,” he said.
KC(M) feud
Mr. Ramachandran said the Congress had always adopted a conciliatory stance over the dispute between the two Kerala Congress (M) factions. He accused the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] of making conscious attempts to manipulate the local body polls through ward delimitation.
The Congress would approach the Election Commission against this and would launch an agitation, he said.
Inaugurating the Congress leadership camp, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were nursing the RSS agenda of converting India into a ‘Hindu Rashtra.’ Mr. Modi was hell bent on destroying Parliamentary democracy, he alleged.
He said that both the Houses of Parliament had passed the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill with undue haste.
No discrimination
He said the Congress always accepted all religious denominations and it never displayed any kind of discrimination towards any religious group or sect.
He said the Congress did not need any help from the CPI(M) in its struggle to protect the Constitution. Mr. Ramachandran alleged that the person who ruled the State always maintained a secret understanding with the Hindu extremism.
He said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should come out in the open criticising the Modi-Shah combine, if he was sincere in the ongoing agitation against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. He further said that Mr. Vijayan was elected to the Assembly for the first time from Koothuparamba with the tacit support of the erstwhile Jana Sangh and that understanding continued even today.
Babu George, DCC president, presided.
