Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Karthikeyan denies having got LDF support

Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress leader G. Karthikeyan has said that his victory to the Assembly from Aryanad was the natural outcome of his rapport with the public and the development works he had initiated there during the past 15 years.

Speaking to presspersons here on Tuesday, Mr. Karthikeyan said the campaign that his victory was aided by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) was politically motivated. It was a political victory against the LDF. There had been a steady increase in his margin since 1991. If the victory margin was 3,000 votes in 1991, it rose to 9,000 in 1996 and 13,000 in 2001. Though the margin dipped to 2,298 votes in the latest elections, the victory was proof of the public support he enjoyed and also the efficiency of the United Democratic Front (UDF) election machinery in the constituency. UDF workers had enrolled 4,000 new voters and this had also worked to his advantage. If Aryanad could survive the LDF wave that swept the State, it was only due to the warm personal relations he had nurtured and the strong roots of the UDF there. The development works he had taken up also paid rich dividends.

The LDF candidate T.J. Chandrachoodan's allegations about his defeat were a challenge to the voters. He accused Prof. Chandrachoodan of challenging the people's right to freely exercise their franchise in the elections.

The constituencies in the north such as Koothuparamba, Nadapuram and Payyannur were strong LDF bastions. Similarly, Aryanad is known as a stronghold of the UDF. During the past elections he had secured an impressive lead in all the panchayats including those run by the LDF. Even when prominent UDF leaders like Thalekkunnil Basheer, M.M. Hassan and M.I. Shanavas were defeated in the Chirayinkeezhu Lok Sabha constituency and the LDF candidate Varkala Radhakrishnan elected with a comfortable margin, Mr. Karthikeyan claimed that his electoral prospects had never suffered any setback in Aryanad. All these UDF candidates had maintained a lead in Aryanad. The only difference was in the last Lok Sabha elections.

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