By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : In a battle of words ahead of the war for ballot April 13, leaders of Kerala’s top contenders for power, the Congress’ A.K. Antony and the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist’s (CPI-M) Pinarayi Vijayan, declared Thursday that their parties would emerge victorious.
Antony, also the defence minister, did not speculate on the number of seats that the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) could win in the elections but said it would be a comfortable victory for the combine.
“We will have a comfortable victory and there is absolutely no doubt in it. Kerala under the present Left rule of V.S. Achuthanandan has failed to capitalise on the numerous positive factors that the state had,” Antony said. It was certain that the CPI-M would be sitting in the opposition after the elections, he added.
“Just look at the way our country has reached newer heights under the Manmohan Singh-led government in the past few years and look what has happened in Kerala. Our state failed to capitalise on this growth,” the Congress leader said, calling Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan a “miserable failure”.
CPI-M leader Vijayan also spoke out, saying that the fortunes of the ruling Left government had taken a remarkable turn.
“The bad times are behind us now and we are heading for a victory in the polls. Things have changed to our advantage in the past few months,” said Vijayan.