KOCHI: The CPM and the BJP have come out against the Congress for delaying the Piravom byelection, alleging that the fear of a defeat has prompted it to slow down the poll process.Both the CPM and the BJP said that it was quite natural to have doubts about the Congress not preferring an election at a time when they are facing many issues at the state and national levels that are boomeranging on them.It has been alleged that the government had gone back on its recommendation to the Election Commission that the bypoll could be held at the earliest in the state. There are allegations that the government had sent a letter to the EC stating that there was no problem in advancing the byelection in Piravom. CPM Ernakulam acting secretary M V Govindan said that there is every reason to doubt that the Congress had delayed the elections. “Soon after the death of T M Jacob, the Congress had favoured an early election as they thought they could win on the ‘sentiment’ wave. But the party came out with many anti-people policies like FDI in retail sector and hike in petrol prices. There were also issues like farmer suicides,” Govindan said. Apart from all these, the Mullaperiyar issue had been a blot on the Congress with its leadership at the Centre taking a negative stand against the state and siding with Tamil Nadu. CPM state Committee member S Sarma said that the Congress wants to postpone the election as it has been facing many political issues in the past months. BJP state general secretary A N Radhakrishnan said the party doubted that the Congress was behind the delay. “The government had failed in many sectors in the past few months. The fear of failure has prompted them to delay the election,” he said. It has to be noted that Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan had written a letter to the EC requesting not to delay the Assembly bypoll in Piravom. However, the Congress sees it only as a political propaganda on the part of the CPM and the BJP. “All these allegations are baseless. The party is ready to face the elections at any time,” Congress spokesperson M M Hassan said.Stating that the Congress was itself astonished why the EC had not announced the dates, he said the state government had already written to the EC on the readiness to conduct elections. Moreover, it was the EC which has to decide the date and no party has any role in it, he said.
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