Election politics in Kerala achieved critical mass on Thursday, with the senior Congress (I) leader, Mr A.K. Antony, launching a fierce political attack against what is likely to be the Opposition UDF's principal target in this election campaign, Chief Minister Mr V.S. Achuthanandan.

Addressing a meet-the-press programme here marking the beginning of his election campaign for the UDF in Kerala, the Union Defence Minister Mr Antony was critical of Mr Achuthanandan's choice of campaign issues and his style of electioneering focussing on errant Opposition leaders individually rather than on the achievements of his Government, and his repeated threats of sending a number of UDF leaders to jail.

“Mr Achuthanadan is a Chief Minister who has ruled Kerala for five years. But he still speaks the language of an Opposition leader. This double role should end. He was once the Opposition Leader. But right now, he should be telling the people what his government did in the past five years,” Mr Antony said.

Since he won the controversial mandate of his party on March 18 to lead the LDF's election campaign, Mr Achuthanandan had hit the campaign trail in earnest, while the top UDF leaders were struggling with the seat sharing and candidate selection process in their camp till Wednesday.

Significantly, at almost all such meetings, and reviving memories of the successful campaign he undertook in 2006, Mr Achuthanandan had been reminding voters: “The Opposition leaders claim that I am behaving in a spiteful and revengeful manner when I say that many of them will have to follow their colleague Mr R. Balakrishna Pillai to prison very soon. But I am merely stating the truth. I refuse to make compromises with certain kind of people — those who swallow public money and those who rape young girls.”

Lack of achievements

Mr Antony said the Chief Minister was repeatedly talking about his commitment to fight the corrupt merely to divert attention from the lack of achievements of his government, to hide its failures and the constant bickering among Ministers and struggle between the Government and the party.

“But if he insists on such war mongering, Mr Achuthanandan should first tell the people how many cases had actually been registered under his watch against people indulging in corruption, harassment of women and the like.”

Mr Antony also said that so far the Chief Minister had put all the blame for his government's poor performance on his party, “claiming that his party secretary and the party were not letting him govern well”.

In another context, demanding to know what administrative steps had been taken by the LDF Government to end corruption, Mr Antony also described Mr Achuthanandan as “a chief minister who wrote letters to the Centre demanding CBI inquiries against his own Ministers”.

Significantly, Mr Antony's comments have come on the day when the CPI(M) State Secretary, Mr Pinarayi Vijayan, said at another media programme, in reply to questions: “All comrades in the CPI(M) play a leadership role in the election campaign. It is not our practice to examine whether one person has a more prominent role or others have a lesser role.”

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