Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Bid to revive ‘grand alliance’

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) convener Vaikom Viswan has alleged a bid by the Congress, Indian Union Muslim League and the Bharatiya Janata Party to revive the ‘once-tried-and-failed grand alliance’ involving all the three parties and various communal forces.

In a statement here on Friday, Mr. Viswan accused the three parties of having come up with baseless allegations against the State government and declared an open war against it over various non-issues.

“The attempt of the UDF [United Democratic Front] is to create a smokescreen over non-existent issues. Some community leaders are also trying to put together an army against the government over non-existent issues,” he said and added that the people of Kerala would see through the community leaders’ refusal to accept the government’s offer for talks on any contentious issue.

The LDF convener cited what he termed the silence of the UDF leadership on the violence unleashed by the RSS-BJP combine in different parts of the State as proof for the attempts to form a common platform against the government.

Although Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) workers had killed several Communist Party of India (Marxist) activists, the Leader of the Opposition and UDF leaders had not bothered to utter even a word about it. They had not raised their voice against RSS violence despite a police officer being killed at Changanassery.

Listing the various achievements of the LDF government over the last two years, Mr. Viswan termed ridiculous and anti-democratic the UDF leaders’ demand that the government should step down.

The government had already implemented several policies and programmes beneficial to the people and to accelerate the State’s economic growth.

The LDF government had also succeeded in getting several industrial investment plans cleared by the Centre and in preparing the ground for the launch of several major development projects such as the Vallarpadom Container Transhipment Terminal and the Vizhinjam port.

Referring to Muslim League State general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty’s allegation that the State government had not shown enough keenness to implement the Sachar committee report, the LDF convener pointed out that an 11-member committee constituted by the State government had already begun functioning.

The government had also initiated several welfare schemes for minorities.

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