LDF to kick-start election drive with regional meets

The LDF committee meeting which was chaired by Communist Party of India (Marxist) politburo member V S Achuthanandan and attended by leaders including P K Vasudevan Nair, P J Joseph, K Pankajakshan and A C Shanmughadas among others, also decided to hold public meetings on January 8 after the conferences.

LDF district committees of Kasargod, Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Palakkad will meet at Kozhikode. District committees of Thrissur, Ernakulam, Kottayam and Idukki will hold their meeting at Ernakulam and those of Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram will meet at Kollam.

Assembly constituency meetings will be held after the regional meetings. The committee felt that the national political mood was against the BJP and the Congress. It however did not discuss the names of the candidates or the distribution of seats, Lawrence said.

The convener ruled out any change in the constitution of the Front before the elections. "No one is walking out and we have not invited anybody," he said. When asked about the overtures being made by the Muslim League, Lawrence said that by staying in the UDF, the League was not serving the interests of the Muslim population it claimed to represent. The committee had not discussed EMS Namboodiripad’s latest missive on the League, he said.

"More than the interests of the Muslim populace, the League leadership is interested in power and position," he said. "The Congress has been working against the interests of Muslims. The League should break ties with the Congress and ask the Muslim population to support the LDF".

To another question, the convener said the national political situation as well as the achievements of the LDF government would influence the electorate in the forthcoming elections. "It is difficult to say what would be uppermost in the minds of the people," he said.

The honest and efficient governance by the LDF Government would stand it in good stead during the elections, he said, adding there was unity among the LDF constituents while the UDF was full of dissension.

The convener said the RSP had made a suggestion in the committee that the portfolio of ailing Minister Baby John should be handed over to some other RSP member temporarily. The LDF had postponed the decision on this issue to the next meeting to give time to the constituent parties to air their views. "There is no controversy over the issue. It is just that all parties should be given a chance to speak out," he said.