Thiruvananthapuram, May 16 (IANS) The rout of Kerala's ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the Lok Sabha elections is a 'birthday gift' to them from the state's people, a Congress leader said Saturday.
'They are going to celebrate the third anniversary of the government Monday and the voters here have given them the best gift for poor governance and anti-people policies,' a beaming Ramesh Chennithala, the Congress' state unit chief, told reporters at the party headquarters here.
With all the results out, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has won a record 16 seats and the LDF four.
The LDF had won 19 of the state's 20 seats in 2004, with the lone UDF victor being Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) candidate E. Ahamed from Ponnani.
The biggest surprise for the Congress was its victory in the CPI-M strongholds in Kannur and Vadakara.
The other seats which went the UDF's way were Kollam, Idukki, Malappuram, Wayanad, Trissur, Chalakudy, Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Ponnani, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Mavelikara, Pathanamthitta and Kozhikode.
The LDF won Palakkad, Kasargode, Attingal and Alathur. All the winners were of the CPI-M. The biggest loser was for the Communist Party of India (CPI) which lost all the four seats that it contested. Also ending on the losing side was Francis George of the Kerala Congress (Joseph), an ally of the LDF, from Idukki.
While the UDF leaders are happy, the top brass of the LDF are sitting indoors and are yet to comment on the results.
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