Kerala's Congress-led ruling UDF and CPI(M)-headed lDF expressed equal confidence of winning the crucial Assembly election for which polling was held on Monday while the BJP-led NDA claimed the polls would prove that its time had come as voters flocked to polling booths across the State to elect their 140 MlAs braving heavy summer showers and burning sun.
“The UDF is absolutely confident of victory. I am certain that Keralites who have supported my Government's policy of “Development and Care” would give us the chance to continue our rule,” said Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy after casting his vote in Puthuppally in Kottayam district where he was seeking election for the eleventh time.
“The entire Kerala is witnessing a left wave,” said nonagenarian Marxist and Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan, the star campaigner of the lDF, in Malampuzha, Palakkad where he was seeking election for the fourth time. Asked about Chandy's claim that UDF rule would continue, he said, “It is nothing but a foolish dream.”
“This poll would prove to be a turning point in Kerala politics. The NDA has great hopes on many seats,” said State BJP president Kummanam Rajasekharan who was contesting from the Vattiyurkkavu seat in Thiruvananthapuram. “The people have expressed the frustration and despair caused to them by the alternating rules of the UDF and left all these years,” he added.
Claiming that the people have voted for continuance of the UDF rule, senior Congress leader AK Antony said the BJP would not open account in the State this time also despite the Prime Minister's “big efforts”. “PM Narendra Modi's comparison of Kerala to Somalia will add to the inability of the BJP to open account,” Antony said.
CPI(M) Politbureau member Pinarayi Vijayan, projected by many as the left's CM candidate, said, “The people have voted for the creation of a New Kerala. This is a very important election. The verdict this time is against the inefficiency of the UDF, law and order collapse under its rule and the policies and actions of the UDF that have been against the morality of this society.”
O Rajagopal, the former Union minister who was expected to win the Nemom seat he was contesting in for the NDA, said,” This is a vote for a change of direction of politics in Kerala” Stating that the growth of the NDA had created panic among the other two fronts, he said, “Those who are keeping their old account books may not see the surge of the BJP.”
“The golden Pitcher will rise and the golden lotus will blossom in it,” said Vellappally Natesan, general secretary of the SNDP Yogam, the chief force behind Kerala BJP's main ally, BDJS whose symbol is the pitcher. “I am sure that there will be NDA's presence in the next Kerala Assembly and the two other fronts are sitting dumbstruck due to this reality,” he said.
“The left will be elected with unprecedented majority to rule the State,” hoped State CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. “The people want the lDF to take up the reins of the State, to throw away the UDF,” he said, adding that they would also give a “fitting reply” to the Kerala-Somalia statement Modi had made and to his regime's “pro-corporate, anti-people” policies.
According to State Congress president VM Sudheeran, the people of Kerala have voted for “safeguarding secularism” and against the bomb-based politics of Marxists.
KM Mani, Kerala Congress (M) chairman who had resigned after being accused of taking bribe from bar owners, also expressed confidence that the people had voted for continuance of the UDF rule.