Kerala - Kannur   

Poll outcome points to irrelevance of UDF, says Jayarajan

Staff Reporter

`Repudiation of a design to ruin me politically'

KANNUR: Despite a high-profile campaign unleashed by the United Democratic Front (UDF) against him in the Koothuparamba constituency portraying him as a `symbol of politics of violence' in the district, the record margin he has secured in the byelection is as much a repudiation of the UDF `design' to ruin him politically as it is reflective of the people's realisation of the irrelevance of the ruling coalition, according to CPI(M) leader P. Jayarajan who retained the seat with a stunning margin of 45,000-odd votes.

Addressing a meet-the-press programme organised by the Press Club here on Tuesday, Mr. Jayarajan said the outcome exposed the UDF's relentless efforts throughout the campaign to use disqualification of his 2001 election by the Supreme Court to portray him as a representative of criminal politics. He said that he was disqualified by the Supreme Court on the ground that the Koothuparamba court's 29-month sentence in connection with the incidents during a Left Democratic Front-sponsored hartal had stood at the time of his filing his nomination papers in 2001. The Government's decision to file appeal in the High Court seeking review of the Additional District and Sessions Court's revision of the Koothuparmba court order after he filed his nominations for the byelection in the Koothuparamba constituency only strengthened the suspicion that he was being targeted by the UDF.

Mr. Jayarajan said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was personally involved in this `conspiracy.'

Politically decisive

Terming the electoral verdict in Koothuparamba and Azhikode as decisive in setting the direction of the State's politics, Mr. Jayarajan said even the LDF was astonished by the huge margins. "I went to the electorate seeking a people's verdict against the UDF Government saying that the UDF was a bane to the State,'' he said. The Chief Minister should have resigned and the UDF should have been disbanded after the election results. The LDF highlighted the `alliance' between the Congress and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the constituency. Despite this `alliance,' the UDF's vote share came down from 55,000-odd votes in 2001 to 36,000-odd votes.

Throughout the campaigning, neither his Congress rival nor the UDF had said anything against the BJP-RSS' brand of `communal fascism' which was posing a greatest threat to the country, Mr. Jayarajan said. The election verdict gave a clear message that the disintegration of the UDF was getting accelerated, he said. The outcome reflected the people's `desire' to see the decline of the UDF. It was high time the UDF stopped raising the bogey of bogus voting now that the facts proved otherwise, he said.

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