Oommen Chandy blames ‘false’ campaign for rout in Kerala, others blame each other

KOCHI: Outgoing chief minister Oommen Chandy has said that a false campaign and religious polarisation led to the defeat of the UDF government. He said that he and his colleagues could not successfully defend the party from false propaganda.

Speaking to the reporters after submitting his resignation to governor P Sathasivam, Chandy said that he accepted the verdict of the people. "The setback suffered by Congress is temporary. We will come back as a bigger force," he said.

Chandy said that while all top leaders of the Congress shared collective responsibility for the defeat, as the leader of the UDF, he had a larger responsibility. After the drubbing that the party received in the assembly election, Congress members have started blaming the party leaders for the defeat.

Padmaja Venugopal of Congress who lost to VS Sunil Kumar of CPI in Thrissur said that no top leaders came to campaign for her in the constituency. She said that she was stabbed in the back by top leaders of her party. Padmaja is the daughter of the late Congress veteran K Karunakaran.

She said that despite pleading with some of the leaders they did not lend a helping hand in her in the constituency. She said that she had to plan and organise her campaign on her own.

K Babu who was excise minister in Chandy’s Cabinet said that he lost the Tripunithura seat because of the campaign that the party was against his candidature. He, however, added that there was no point in blaming Chandy alone for the sorry state of affairs in the party.

K Babu, who faced allegations of accepting a bribe from the bar hotel owners, lost to M Swaraj of CPM in Thrippunithura. There was opposition to his candidature from within the party initially.

Congress leader VD Satheesan who won from Parur said that it was the lack of unity among top leaders of the Congress that led to the defeat of the party.