CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat has praised party leader and Kerala chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan for acting against corruption. In an article in the latest issue of party organ People’s Democracy, he said that issues like price rise and the popular outrage against corruption has worked in favour of the Left Democratic Front
in Kerala and against the ruling DMK in TN. “The popular outrage against high-level corruption and the strong urge for a corruption-free government has definitely worked in favour of the LDF in Kerala,” he said.
“The vexed issue of high-level corruption had a special resonance in Kerala. Recently, a former minister of an earlier UDF government, R. Balakrishna Pillai, was sent to jail, after the Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s verdict and set aside his acquittal by the high court. That his punishment for corruption came about due to a petition filed by the then Opposition leader V.S. Achuthanandan underlined the firm stand of the LDF government on corruption,” he said.
Interestingly, Mr Achuthanandan had been ousted from the CPI(M) politburo for publicly speaking against tainted state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, facing a chargesheet by the CBI in the `370-crore SNC Lavalin scam.
Mr Karat said the election campaign in Kerala has also brought out “another significant fact” that there was “no visible anti-incumbency feeling against the LDF government” which was noted “even by the media hostile to the Left”. He said the LDF “can be confident that it has broken the veil drawn on its successful campaign through manufactured opinion polls.”
“In the absence of any serious discontent among the people about the LDF government’s performance, the UDF is banking upon caste and communal organisations to rally support.”