Kerala - Alappuzha   

LDF will win polls: Achuthanandan

Staff Reporter

`Controversy over Emergency subsides'

ALAPPUZHA: Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan has said that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) will win hands down the local body polls held in eight districts from Thiruvananthapuram to Thrissur on Saturday.

After casting his vote at a polling booth in Punnapra North Panchayat, along with his wife, Vasumathi, and son Arunkumar, Mr. Achuthanandan told presspersons that during his campaign tours in these districts, he found the mood of the people to be overwhelmingly against the United Democratic Front (UDF) Government.

He said the controversies over the allegations against the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) for making seat adjustments with the Democratic Indira Congress-Karunakaran (DIC-K) had subsided in the final stages of campaign.

The LDF entered into seat adjustments with the DIC(K) following the Congress-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance. The DIC(K) would benefit from the seat adjustments, Mr. Achuthanandan added.

Mr. Achuthanandan said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala had dragged the issue of responsibility for Emergency excesses before the public. The Congress leaders raised the issue, with a vested interest, following a statement by the former Chief Minister K. Karunakaran, in a television channel, that it was the police, and not he, who were responsible for those atrocities.

Mr. Achuthanandan said the people knew about the stand taken by the CPI(M) during the Emergency, and there was no need to explain to the public the role of the party in opposing it. Everybody knew the real intention of the Congress leaders who now spoke for the victims of Emergency and other martyrs.

The aim of the Congress leaders was political gain, and people would identify it, Mr. Achuthanandan added.

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LDF will win polls: Achuthanandan

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