Pinarayi Vijayan poll march on
Kozhikode: CPM politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday started his month-long pre-election Navakerala Yatra covering all the 140 assembly constituencies from Kasaragod in the backdrop of the government's attempts to bring life back to Lavalin case in which he was arraigned as an accused.
Former CPM general secretary Prakash Karat inaugurated the Yatra by handing over the party flag to Mr Vijayan at Uppala, in the presence of opposition leader VS Achuthanandan. The Yatra would conclude at Thiruvananthapuram on February 14.
Inaugurating the rally, Mr Karat said the traditional industry and farm sector of the state had been destroyed under the UDF regime. “Though the slogan of the government is pro-development, here development is only for ministers,” he said. Mr Karat said the CPM has done much homework before the rally to assess the developmental needs of the society at the recently-concluded International Study Congress on Kerala recently.
Mr Achuthanandan limited himself to attacking hindutwa forces which he said were trying to divide the Kerala society on communal lines. The opposition leader said the LDF would put up a united fight against communalism but was silent on the Lavalin issue which the party has dismissed as a politically-motivated move by the ruling United Democratic Front.
CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said that Lavalin case is the last resort of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy who had realised that his earlier attempts failed to destroy LDF in the state.
The other members of the rally are CPM state secretariat member MV Govindan, state committee members KJ Thomas, PK Sainaba, parliament members MB Rajesh, A Sampath and P.K Biju and independent MLA KT Jaleel.