Kerala   

Oommen Chandy rules out resignation

`BJP men voted for Left Democratic Front candidate'

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said here on Tuesday that the UDF would have won the byelection to the Lok Sabha from Thiruvananthapuram constituency if BJP votes had not gone to the LDF.

The Chief Minister claimed that the BJP supporters had voted to defeat the Congress, which was its main enemy, destroying even the relevance of their own party.

Mr. Chandy ruled out his resignation as Chief Minister over the defeat.

Referring to the demand for resignation made by leader of the Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) K. Karunakaran, the Chief Minister said he was doing exactly what Mr. Karunakaran had done as Chief Minister after the defeat of the ruling Front in the Ottappalam byelection in 1993.

He said DIC(K) had not made much contribution to the LDF victory.

The number of votes polled by the UDF had gone up, and this was mainly on account of new voters.

The UDF workers had shown much enthusiasm in enrolling new voters and most of them totalling 40,000 were UDF supporters.

Mr. Chandy denied that he had campaigned in a manner that promoted divisiveness. He had confined to the issues of national politics, development and relevance of Congress in his speeches, including those at family get-togethers.

"If I have done so, let them point out specific instances."

He said that the speeches of national leaders of the CPI (M), on the other hand, were divisive. The police had registered a case against CPI (M) leaders for printing material aimed to create divisions.

He said the UDF and Congress workers had shown unprecedented unity and vigour in conducting the campaign.

"At no time has the UDF been so united during the last 30 years. But that did not yield the desired result. If the BJP had won one lakh votes, the picture would have been different."

He said the UDF would examine the reasons for the defeat in detail and correct its mistakes. He cited the change in Government policies regarding online and paper lotteries as example of the Government's willingness to correct mistakes.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Oommen Chandy rules out resignation
Promoting young talent
Raghavan bares his mind on raise
Health is wealth
Sunil looking for roles in meaningful cinema
CAT and the city
Today at Sabarimala
Briefly
In Thrissur Today

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu