Former MP MB Rajesh’s House Allegedly Attacked by Congress Workers in Palakkad, Kerala

Soon after the Lok Sabha election results were out, the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala who bagged almost all the seats allegedly resorted to attacks in different parts of the state. On Friday, May 24, a day after the election results, former Palakkad MP MB Rajesh’s house was targeted by a group allegedly belonging to the Congress.

The group threw explosives at his house in Shornur in Palakkad district. At the time of the attack, Rajesh was not there at his house and only his parents were there. Hearing the sounds of the explosives, neighbours and local party members rushed to his house.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] has alleged that the Congress is behind the attack. Congress workers are trying to create violence in the area, said a CPI(M) local leader.

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“A group of people who have been identified as workers of Congress party threw explosive substances at the house. No one else has been harmed in the attack,” said an official of Shornur police station.

Rajesh was the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate from the Palakkad Lok Sabha constituency. The two-time MP lost to UDF’s VK Sreekandan with a margin of about 11,000 votes.

Other than Palakkad, Congress and UDF workers have been trying to provoke the LDF workers in various parts of the state. In Kasaragod, where Rajmohan Unnithan of Congress bagged victory over KP Satheesh Chandran of CPI(M), UDF workers have tried to destroy the flags of various left organisations and thus create ruckus in the area. They were stopped by a group of women who had caught them in the act.

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Meanwhile, CPI(M) state committee secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on Saturday said, “For those who had dreamt of the complete erosion of the party, the history shows that it was just a daydream.” He said that in the 1977 Lok Sabha Elections, CPI(M) had gotten no seats from the state. Later in 1979, during the local body elections, the CPI(M)-led front had bagged the majority of seats thrashing the UDF. Since the UDF had been crushed, many had joined with the Left Front and in the 1980 general elections, the Left Front got a majority. Again in the 1984 general elections, UDF had secured 17 seats.

In the next Assembly elections in 1987, all including the media had said that the Left front would bag no seats in the state. However, the election had seen a massive come back of the Left and EK Nayanar of CPI(M) had become the state chief minister.

“So, you can not down play the importance of Left through one election defeat. The Left has a strong base here and we will move forward analysing the reasons of the electoral defeat,” Balakrishnan further said.

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