We will introspect and win back people’s trust: Achuthanandan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, who suffered a series of electoral reverses after assuming power in 2006, put up a brave face Wednesday and said his government will win back people’s confidence.

“Despite doing a lot of positive things for the people, somehow all what we did, for some reason, could not be conveyed to the people. We are going to do a serious introspection and find out what went wrong and then launch corrective measures, and we will win back the confidence of the people very soon,” said Achuthanandan.

After leading the Left Democratic Front (LDF) to a stunning victory in the 2006 assembly polls, Achuthanandan has failed to retain voters and has been badly mauled, first at last year’s Lok Sabha polls, followed by the assembly by-elections and now at the local body polls.

The opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) has won two of the five corporations and edged past the LDF in the municipalities, district panchayats, block levels and the gram panchayat levels.

“The opposition got an edge because they appeased the communal forces but our policy is very clear. We will not appease communal forces for electoral gains,” he said.

Achuthanandan’s Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which heads the LDF coalition, said that despite the reverses in the local bodies polls, its electoral base is intact, as the coalition secured a total of 77.81 lakh votes, up by a million votes compared to last year’s Lok Sabha polls.

Kerala’s political parties have started gearing up for assembly elections, expected to be held early next year.

–Indo Asian News Service