The meeting of the Kerala PCC’s executive in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday saw the presentation of a basket of disappointments related to the 16th lok Sabha election for which polling was held in the State on April 10.
Despite the claim of the party till the polling date that the Congress-led UDF was set to sweep Parliament election in Kerala, the meeting saw leaders and post-poll reports from district Congress committees explaining that the ruling front need not expect much from this election.
While PCC president VM Sudheeran claimed that the UDF might win 15 of the total 20 seats in the State by saying that the front had worked in total unity, the words of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, former State party chief, did not reflect that confidence.
Chandy said the Congress and the UDF had an upper hand on the poll scene in the first phase of campaigning but it was doubtful whether the party and the front could retain that till the end. He said the CPI(M)-led lDF could offer a neck-and-neck competition to the UDF and that the BJP had been able to put up a brilliant face towards the end of campaigning.
Ramesh Chennithala was disappointed that the UDF could not cash in on the anti-Narendra Modi sentiment he said was prevalent in the State, a theory several other leaders shared. He said the CPI(M) and the lDF had managed to present a united campaign despite the fact that the Marxists were still not out of the grip of divisionism.
The meeting also heard complaints to the effect that there had been severe vote-leaks in many constituencies and that many leaders were inactive in campaigning. There were also reports on how group activities in the party could have undermined the prospects of Congress candidate in certain key constituencies.
The report of the Pathanamthitta district Congress committee blamed the leadership for selecting the wrong candidate - sitting MP Anto Antony - for the Pathanamthitta seat despite the fact that the warning was already there that a person who had been supportive of the controversial Aranmula airport project in the district was not suitable for the seat.
The district committee of Malappuram — a Muslim-majority district — reported that the winning margin of UDF’s Muslim league candidates in Ponnani and Malappuram seats might fall sharply in this election in comparison to the 2009 polls.