Poll surveys betray interests of multinationals: Pinarayi

By Our Staff Reporter

KANNUR, MAY 7. The CPI(M) State secretary, Mr. Pinarayi Vijayan, has said that the poll surveys by some media groups predicting comfortable majority for the UDF in the State Assembly election betray a calculated design of multinational monopolies to ensure the defeat of the LDF that has been opposed to the policies of globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation.

``The LDF Government coming back to power in the State is against the interests of the multinational companies that want the Government to pursue the policies of globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation,' Mr. Vijayan told newspersons at a "Meet-the-Press" at the Kannur Press Club here today.

Some media giants had come out with their `strange' poll surveys in the last phase of the electioneering to enliven the UDF that was far behind the LDF on the campaign front, he said adding that the exaggerated survey reports were out of tune with the ground realities. ``These surveys will in no way influence the voters,'' he said.

Mr. Vijayan also blamed the Central Election Commission (CEC) for the `unjustifiable' removal of thousands of genuine voters from the voters' list without following any reasonable norms.

``Scores of genuine voters have been deleted from the list on the basis of inquiries made by strangers who visited households as part of the efforts to remove the names of the dead from the list,'' he said adding that the State's election history had never witnessed such absurd procedure.

He urged the CEC to take a serious note of the complaints about the largescale deletion of voters from the voters' list.

The CPI(M) leader took strong exception to the UDF's `bid' to accuse the LDF of creating trouble. There was a strong propaganda that the entire region north of Vadakara was tense, he said, adding that such propaganda appeared to be a pre-emptive move to attribute some candidates' anticipated defeat in the election to the alleged intimidation of the UDF voters by LDF workers.

``It is a fact that there are a number of areas where the LDF is predominant,'' he said adding that in many of these areas the UDF could not field candidates in the last local bodies election. The LDF welcomed all measures to enforce law and order in sensitive areas, he said.

Describing the five-year LDF rule as `golden period', Mr. Vijayan said that the LDF Government had brought about far greater changes than what the previous Governments had done. The UDF's electoral `tie-up' with BJP-RSS in many places in the State betrayed its apprehension about the achievements of the LDF Government, he said.

The Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, in her election speech at Cherthala the other day was reticent about the BJP and the RSS, he said adding that the Congress still lacked a clear stand on secularism.

Stating that the UDF's attempt in the final phase of the campaign was to use money power to fight the election, the CPI(M) leader said that a number of Karnataka Ministers, including the Chief Minister, Mr. S.M. Krishna, landed in the State for campaigning for the UDF to flood the UDF campaign machinery with huge funds mobilised from `the Karnataka spirit lobby'.

Asked about the CPI(M)'s dilemma over its support to the AIADMK and the Congress in the neighbouring Tamil Nadu, Mr. Vijayan said that the party had no alliance with the AIADMK or the Congress there.

To a query on Manjeswaram constituency where the BJP State president, Mr. C. K. Padmanabhan, is contesting the election, the CPI(M) leader said that the party candidate, Mr. Ramanna Rai, was now ahead of his rivals.

Moves were on to shift RSS votes to the UDF, he said adding that the LDF was seeking votes for its anti-BJP-RSS stand.

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Section  : State Elections
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