Kerala - Alappuzha   

Elections an assessment of the LDF government, says Isaac

— PHOTO: By special arrangement

Poll preparation: Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac inaugurating the LDF’s Alappuzha parliamentary constituency election committee office on Saturday. Minister for Cooperation G. Sudhakaran is also seen.

ALAPPUZHA: Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac has said that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) has won the first round in the Parliament elections even as the United Democratic Front (UDF) was grappling with its candidates’ list and the mutiny within the party over the selection of certain candidates.

Inaugurating the LDF election committee office for the Alappuzha parliamentary constituency here on Saturday, Dr. Isaac dared the Leader of Opposition Oommen Chandy to consider the forthcoming elections as an assessment of the LDF government’s performance.

The LDF was ready for a comparison of its three-year-old governance with the five-year-long regime of the UDF. The LDF would win hands down with every section of the society, from government employees to workers in traditional industries, being happy with the government’s performance till date, he said.

Mr. Isaac also played down the Opposition’s criticism on the differences of opinion within the LDF, saying that whatever slight arguments there might be within the alliance, the political aim of all Left parties was the same and this would keep them united. Expressing confidence that the Janata Dal’s unfortunate dispute over seat-sharing would be solved, Dr. Isaac said all issues would be sorted out at the earliest and that all LDF allies would jointly fight the polls.

On the national scenario, Dr. Isaac said the BJP was becoming increasingly isolated in mainstream politics with the party unable to string up alliances with any party in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu. On the other hand, the Congress was not fighting the elections in any State along with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) or Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) or even the Samajwadi Party—all of which were supposed to be UPA members.

This meant that the UPA was not contesting the elections anywhere and did not exist anymore. With small and regional parties finding that they had choices other than the BJP and the Congress, the secular Third Front was emerging stronger, contrary to claims that such a Front would only help religious fundamentalist forces.

Coir Minister G. Sudhakaran launched a web site for LDF candidate K.S. Manoj. CPI(M) district secretary P.K. Chandranandan, CPI district secretary A. Shivarajan and others also spoke.

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