Kerala - Palakkad   

Achuthanandan begins campaign in Malampuzha

Staff Reporter

CPI(M) veteran lists out the UDF's omissions and commissions

MINCING NO WORDS: Leader of the Opposition and LDF candidate V.S. Achuthanandan addressing an election meeting at a colony near Walayar in the Malampuzha Assembly constituency on Tuesday.

PALAKKAD: Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan started his election campaign in the Malampuzha Assembly constituency on a spirited note here on Tuesday, saying that the Left Democratic Front's support to K.T. Jaleel in Kuttipuram against Indian Union Muslim League leader P.K. Kunhalikutty was a "symbol of the fight against the sex mafia, to protect women and uphold the womanhood of Kerala."

During a day-long tour of Malampuzha, the CPI(M) Polit Bureau member said the five-year rule of the United Democratic Front (UDF), in which Mr. Kunhalikutty has had considerable political clout, had "insulted the womanhood of the State." He alleged that the UDF had protected those involved in the Kozhikode ice cream parlour case and failed to act with regard to sex scandals in Kiliroor, Kaviyoor and Kottiyam.

Attacking the Oommen Chandy Government, he said mothers of the State were living in constant fear as they did not know what would happen to their daughters who had gone to schools and colleges.

Breakdown

Mr. Achuthanandan said the law and order situation had broken down in the State. Even in Thiruvananthapuram the situation was bad. Mafia gangs were in control.

He alleged that the UDF Government was steeped in corruption. It had failed to collect tax dues from lottery operators. Even when single-digit lottery was banned elsewhere in the country it was allowed here. It had banned the State-run lottery in order to help the single-digit lottery operators and failed to collect from them Rs.7,000 crores in tax dues from them. He alleged large-scale corruption in this, and put the blame on Finance Minister Vakkom Purushothaman, among others.

Mr. Achuthanandan said that when he exposed such operations, UDF leaders ranging from A.K. Antony to KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala were accusing him of taking an "anti-development stand.'' Opposing the alienation of precious wealth did not constitute an anti-development stand, he said.

He said the Government had failed to protect the State's water resources, in instances such as the Parambikulam-Aliyar Project (PAP) and Mullaperiyar. It had failed to renew the PAP Agreement, thus depriving Palakkad district of its due share of water. This had affected paddy and other crops.

Through tribal colonies

Mr. Achuthanandan began his campaign in the morning at the Nadupathy tribal hamlet in Walayar. He visited two tribal colonies close to Malabar Cements Ltd. Here he spoke about the UDF Government's anti-tribal policies. He mentioned the shooting down of a tribal person at Muthanga in Wayanad during an agitation for land rights.

From the tribal colony he went to Malabar Cements, where workers received him at the factory gate. They sought his intervention to stop alleged back-door appointments on election-eve. Mr. Achuthanandan contacted the Managing Director of the company over the phone and asked him to stop making appointments during the election period.

Then he visited the Walayar `Laksham Veedu Colony', where a large number of women and children received him. They thanked him for having helped them to get piped water from Malampuzha by implementing a Rs.12-crore water supply scheme for the Walayar area.

By noon he had inaugurated the Nallepully, Marutharode and Malampuzha panchayat conventions of the LDF. At the Malampuzha convention he touched upon crucial election issues and asked the people to work for the success of the LDF. In the afternoon he addressed to two more panchayat-level conventions at Akathethara and Pirayiri.

Mr. Achuthanandan, who is on a two-day tour of the district, will file his nomination papers on Wednesday at the Collectorate.

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