‘BJP will open account in Kerala’ – Sushma Swaraj

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP leader Sushma Swaraj has said that her party will open its account in the upcoming Assembly elections.

“Not one, but many BJP MLAs will be there in the next Kerala Assembly. BJP will take the role of a strong and creative opposition party in the state as it has been doing at the national-level,” said Sushma Swaraj, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

She was addressing the concluding ceremony of the Kerala Raksha Padayatra here on Saturday.

“Fed up with the decades-long rule of the CPM-led LDF and Congress-led UDF, the people of the state are craving for a change. In this context, the BJP is emerging as a third front in Kerala. Both the LDF and UDF have a common agenda of corruption. After the Kerala Raksha Padayatra had begun, various corruption cases have come up. Kerala Congress leader R Balakrishna Pillai has been jailed in a corruption case. More revelations are surfacing in the palmolein scam. UDF leader Kunhalikutty is caught up in a sex scandal. Over these years, the the UDF as well as the LDF had been covering up corruption cases,” she said. “In the national arena also, the Congress had ditched the people. Prices of even essential commodities are sky-rocketing, massive corruption like the 2G spectrum scam is taking place. The Congress-led government is also protecting the bigwigs who are in possession of black money,” she said.

Sushma also alleged that both the UDF and the LDF are equally responsible for the ‘murder’ of scores of pilgrims at Sabarimala as they failed to provide basic infrastructure. The BJP national leader called upon the party workers, especially women, to work and ensure that lotus will bloom in Kerala this time. BJP state president V Muraleedharan said that the ongoing mudslinging between the UDF and the LDF was nothing but the outcome of infighting within the fronts. In both the UDF and LDF, not one but many are eyeing the chair of Chief Minister. Hence there is no chance for a stable  government.

He said that during the past five years, the CPM leaders were paying more attention on internal feuds and not on the development and welfare of the people. The allegations that are now surfacing against both the LDF and UDF leaders are true. Both the fronts were so far covering up these allegations. Muraleedharan, who led the 41-day long padayatra from Kasargod to Thiruvananthapuram, said that the feedback he had received was that the people of the state were longing to have a strong Opposition.

Hence there will be a change in the political climate prevailing in the state in the coming elections.

BJP leaders including O Rajagopal and Tamil Nadu state president Pon. Radhakrishan were present at the function.

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