New leadership emerging in CPI(M)

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH 25. The CPI(M) list of candidates for the coming Assembly election is dominated by youngsters, indicating that the party is keen on grooming a new generation of leaders for the battles of tomorrow.

The CPI(M) today released the names of 67 out of its 77 contestants, thus becoming the first party to announce its candidates for the election which is yet to be notified. The names of candidates for the remaining 10 constituencies would be announced within the next three or four days, the CPI(M) State secretary, Mr. Pinarayi Vijayan, told a news conference here today.

The CPI(M) list, headed by the CPI(M) politburo member, Mr. V.S. Achuthanandan, has the names of 26 MLAs, including five who had contested as CPI(M)-backed independents. Nine of the contestants are women of whom seven are newcomers. The prominent CPI(M) contestants other than Mr. Achuthanandan are the party Central committee member, Mr. P.K. Gurudasan, the State secretariat member, Mr. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, and the State Planning Board member, Dr. T.M. Thomas Isaac. The party has renominated just one Minister from the outgoing Nayanar Cabinet, the SC/ST Welfare Minister, Mr. K. Radhakrishnan.

The CPI(M) State secretary said the candidates had been chosen on the basis of the work put in by them in the party and the class and mass organisations. Many who had contested successfully several times had been kept out, but in some cases exemptions had been granted taking into account constituency- specific factors, he explained.

Mr. Vijayan said a UDF-BJP tie-up had become a distinct possibility with the BJP national leadership declaring that its objective in Kerala was to defeat the CPI(M). The Congress leadership's silence over the Tehelka.com disclosures was ample proof for this. Neither Mr. K. Karunakaran nor Mr. A.K. Antony had uttered a word about the scam, probably because they were afraid that any criticism of the BJP would result in their losing the BJP votes.

The CPI(M) leader pointed out that the KC(M) had expressed its readiness to ally with the BJP long ago and that the Muslim League was in alliance with the BJP in the local body polls in Kasaragod and Kozhikode. But they could do not humble the LDF despite such alliances and the same would happen in the coming Assembly election as well, he added.

Mr. Vijayan ridiculed the way the UDF leadership celebrated Mr. R. Balakrishna Pillai's release from the Central prison after being in jail for a week for his involvement in the Graphite case. He said nobody thought that the UDF would stoop to such levels to cover up corruption. The UDF allegation that the imprisonment of Mr. Pillai was the result of political vendetta was a challenge to the judiciary, he said.

The LDF, he said, was going into the election with full optimism and said that even a UDF-BJP alliance would not be able to defeat it. Asked whether the INL would be given seats in the election, he said the INL was not part of the ruling alliance.

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Section  : Southern States
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