Thiruvananthapuram: Launching its campaign for the upcoming polls, the Congress-led UDF launched a scathing attack on the ruling CPI(M) for travelling the same path as the Sangh Parivar to create communal polarisation for votes.
He said the Congress-led “Team UDF” will never compromise and will question whoever speaks the language of communalism. Launching his Puthuyuga Yatra (march into new era) in Kasargod district’s Kumbla on Friday evening, Leader of Opposition V. D. Satheesan asked Congress workers to embrace good communists, as they are going to vote for the Congress.
“They thought if the Left had come to power, the state would progress and the state would become better. But they have now realised that the Left is not Left and that they are extreme Right. Who is Left? Us. We are the Nehruvian Left. We stand with change,” Satheesan said, adding that the UDF’s key priority is to question whoever speaks of majority or minority communalism.
Started in Kasaragod, the march will end on 7 March in Thiruvananthapuram.
Satheesan said the UDF is starting a new age in the state, ending an era of bad governance. The UDF had shown the government’s faults to the people ahead of the local body polls, he added.
“People gave their verdict with the most resounding victory for the UDF in the last 30 years. We are starting a great war. We are not just an Opposition. We, the Team UDF, are going to come to power with over 100 seats,” Satheesan said, adding that the UDF’s responsibility is to tell people what a “Team UDF” government will do in all the sectors where the current government had failed.
In the local body elections held in December, the Congress-led UDF had secured a major victory by winning four of the six corporations, 54 of the 87 municipalities, seven of the 14 district panchayats, 79 of the 152 block panchayats, and 505 of the 941 village panchayats.
Satheesan said the team will also work towards making youngsters stay in the state. He said people will be talking only about the UDF’s agenda for the state’s future by the time the yatra ends in Thiruvananthapuram next month, as the UDF was going to present many initiatives that were prepared after talking to experts in various fields.
“The LDF ruined the economy of the state. The UDF is coming with plans to make the state India’s best economy,” Satheesan said, adding that the UDF will help improve the state’s health sector, which is currently “on a ventilator”, and that all sectors will see change, leading to the timely transformation of Kerala.
“The UDF is coming. With good preparation. With great confidence. With the support of Malayalis across the world, people we are proud of, experts and professionals. Such plans will definitely come to Kerala. That change… that is the UDF’s word,” he said.
Inaugurating the march, AICC general secretary K. C. Venugopal said Kerala is looking forward to the Congress march. He said the state has never seen such a strong anti-incumbency sentiment against a government.
“Time is changing, Kerala too. But educated people are looking at the state with disappointment. They want to leave the state. Who is responsible for this? We know it is the Pinarayi Vijayan government, which has been ruling here for 10 years. They should answer the youngsters first,” Venugopal said.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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