Congress hails ‘historic’ mandate; LDF, BJP to probe setbacks in Kochi

District Congress Committee president Muhammed Shiyas dubbed the United Democratic Front’s (UDF) landslide victory in the Kochi Corporation as “historic” and the biggest-ever setback faced by any State government.

Mr. Shiyas told reporters that Pinarayi Vijayan and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) had even failed to realise the extent of anti-incumbency and sarcastically thanked the Chief Minister for the UDF victory. Continuing to poke fun, he said that people had “accepted” Mr. Vijayan’s admission that the Kochi Metro and the Water Metro were the biggest development projects witnessed by Kochi and recognised that they were implemented by the Congress and the UDF.

“The government’s work was reduced to public relations alone. The collective effort of the UDF was behind the victory. Inefficiency and corruption in the Corporation’s governance also contributed to the victory. We will find heads for local bodies without any dispute,” Mr. Shiyas said.

CPI(M) district secretary S. Satish said that the verdict was most unexpected, and that the party would scrutinise it threadbare, booth-wise. “We will verify whether all our votes were polled and whether there were other factors like cross-voting. We will take corrective measures, if warranted,” he said.

CPI district secretary N. Arun said that the setback, despite the government’s development and welfare activities, would be examined, and that the LDF would stage a comeback by working for the welfare of the people. “The LDF carried out unprecedented development works in the Kochi Corporation, making this verdict totally unexpected. A conspiracy was hatched to turn both the majority and minority communities against the government through a misinformation campaign. It remains to be verified whether the LDF managed to effectively resist it,” he said.

K.S. Shaiju, BJP city district president, downplayed the party not hitting double digits as claimed before the election. “We haven’t lost any seats but only gained an additional one. Though we lost our sitting seat in Ernakulam South, we compensated for it by winning two new seats — Thrikkanarvattom and Panayappilly. Though the UDF won, they cross-voted in favour of the LDF where they had little chance,” he said, while declining to shed light on why the National Democratic Alliance partners, including the Bharat Dharma Jana Sena, which contested in six seats, drew a blank.

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee vice president Hibi Eden, MP, said that the verdict was tantamount to the people asking the State government to quit. “This turned out to be the election in which the electorate took up the issues relentlessly raised by the Opposition. A UDF wave lashed the coastal regions of the district,” he said.