Date:12/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/12/stories/2006051203870900.htm

Kerala

CPI(M) Polit Bureau to choose Kerala Chief Minister nominee

Staff Reporter

Verdict will strengthen hands of Left at Centre: Achuthanandan

Claims Karunakaran outfit is not a force in State politics

Says new Government will work for the welfare of people

PALAKKAD: CPI(M) Polit Bureau member V. S. Achuthanandan, who won from the Malampuzha Assembly constituency by a huge margin, said on Thursday that his party would take a final decision on the Chief Ministerial nominee at its Polit Bureau meeting on May 13 and 14.

Talking to mediapersons at the CPI(M) district committee office, he said the LDF's landslide victory in the Kerala and West Bengal Assembly elections would help strengthen the hands of the Left at the Centre and this would correct some of the wrong policies pursued by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government.

"Women voters' ire"

He described the massive victory of the LDF in Kerala as an expression of anger by women voters against the United Democratic Front (UDF) Government, which had protected the accused in various sex scandal cases. He said it was also a mandate against corruption and operation of `mafia gangs' under the UDF Government and its Ministers during the last five years in office. Mr. Achuthanandan said the election result had also proved that the Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) (DIC-K) was not a force in Kerala politics. The CPI(M) leader said his stand that the LDF should not have any alliance with the DIC(K) had been vindicated. Asked "whether it was the victory of V. S. Achuthanandan or the LDF," he said, "it is the victory of the CPI(M) and the LDF."

He said the people of Kerala had rejected the contention of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy that the LDF and the Leader of the Opposition stood against all development measures.