There Is Only 1 Captain In Thrikkakara And Its P.T Thomas: Congress
Kochi, May 12: Congress-led UDF’s star campaigner Ramesh Chennithala on Thursday exuded confidence in the party’s victory in Kerala bypoll saying there is only captain in Thrikkakara – P.T Thomas – and not Pinarayi Vijayan.
“In Thrikkakara, there is only one captain and it’s P.T.Thomas. In this ‘game’ here Chief Minister Vijayan is going to lose. Vijayan is not the captain, it’s Thomas here,” said Chennithala, who has been staying put at the constituency overseeing the poll campaign.
“I challenge Vijayan and wish to ask him, why has he stopped laying the marking stones of K-Rail (the now controversial pet project of Vijayan). If he is so confident, then he should have continued with the laying of the marking stones. We will be discussing the needless and destructive project K-Rail, which will sound the death knell of the state,” he asserted.
His remarks come against the backdrop of several videos doing rounds in the social media with hash tag, “Captain Pinarayi”.
Chennithala, the veteran Congress legislator and former Leader of Opposition, said that there is no doubt that Uma Thomas, the widow of Congress legislator P.T.Thomas, will win hands down.
If completed, the K-Rail project will see a 529.45 km corridor connecting Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod with semi-high speed trains covering the distance in around four hours.
Both the Congress and the BJP are up in arms against the project saying it is not needed given the massive cost which they say will be in excess of Rs 1.50 lakh crore. Besides, it would be an environmental and economic disaster and a huge burden for the next generation.
Vijayan is determined to go ahead with this project despite massive protests wherever the K-Rail officials went to lay the marking stones.
Asked about the announcement made by estranged Congress veteran K.V.Thomas that he will be campaigning for the Left candidate, Chennithala said, he only feels sympathatic for Thomas.
“I pity his present plight and position and at Thrikkakara, the impact of he campaigning for the CPI-M candidate is not going to make any impact at all,” added Chennithala.
Vijayan, who has returned from the US after his medical treatment two days back, is reaching Thrikkakara on Thursday evening to give the much needed impetus for the campaign of their candidate, an interventional cardiologist Joe Joseph.
The social media being managed by the CPI-M cyber wing has come out with videos of Vijayan with the hash tag, ‘Captain Pinarayi’.
