The Hindu : Front Page : Sonia Gandhi's arrival gives a boost to UDF election campaign

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 25, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

Sonia Gandhi's arrival gives a boost to UDF election campaign

Kerala Bureau

THANKSGIVING: Congress president Sonia Gandhi receives a memento from Thrissur District Congress Committee president M.P. Bhaskaran Nair at a campaign meeting of the United Democratic Front in Thrissur on Monday. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala look on.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The United Democratic Front (UDF) turned aggressive on the second leg of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's election campaign in Kerala on Monday, with large crowds of slogan-shouting supporters greeting her at all the four places where she addressed meetings.

Amidst cheer from her supporters, she said the people of the State would spurn the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the Assembly elections and re-elect the UDF to power to save the State from ruin.

"Left parties have no vision for the future and wants to keep Kerala locked in the past and locked in politics," she said, addressing rallies in Thrissur, Palakkad, Kannur and Kozhikode.

She encountered bigger gatherings on Monday than during the first leg of her election campaign last week, indicating that the UDF had marshalled its resources much better this time. The Kozhikode meeting, the last of the day, was by far the biggest.

Hits out at Left

Ms. Sonia said the LDF represented the politics of `obstruction, confrontation and violence' and would undo all the achievements the State had made during the last five years of the UDF rule. The last time the LDF was given a chance to govern the State, it had squandered the State's finances. It was up to the present UDF Government to haul the State out of the depths and set it on the path of growth.

She said the UDF stood for consensus and dialogue. Only this approach could bring together all sections of the people. "A vote for the UDF is a vote for the dignity and security of the people, as well as the prosperity of each and every citizen of Kerala," she said. Much of her speech was a repetition of what she had said in South Kerala during the first election tour last week.

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