Will Oommen Chandy ask Ramesh Chennithala to step down: Kodiyeri Balakrishnan

Thiruvananthapuram: CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on Thursday said the Chengannur verdict was acceptance of LDF's secular politics and government’s development agenda. He said the soft Hindtuva politics of the UDF and the extreme Hindutva agenda of the RSS BJP had suffered huge defeat. This gives great hope to secular forces, he said.

Kodiyeri said during the campaign, former chief minister and AICC general secretary Oommen Chandy had said that the bypoll would be a referendum on the government’s and Opposition front’s performance. Is he still sticking to his stand ? If yes, then would he ask Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala to step down?

“In Karnataka polls, the Congress tried to play soft Hindutva to counter the extreme Hindutva of the RSS-BJP. The set back in Karntaka was because of that policy. Without learning any lessons, they used the same tactics in Chengannur. The people have seen through the game of Congress. People accepted the LDF stand that communalism had to be fought with secular politics. The BJP had announced that their next target was Kerala. But people of Kerala have given a stinging reply to them saying in no uncertain terms that “people here do not subscribe to extreme hindutva agenda.”