Thiruvananthapuram: Hours before the counting of votes in the Lok Sabha elections begins, Kerala’s ruling Left Democratic Front convenor E.P. Jayarajan on Monday dismissed the exit polls projections of the CPI-M-led Left putting up a dismissal performance in the state while ruling out any chance of actor and BJP candidate Suresh Gopi winning from Thrissur.
“It’s best that Gopi sticks to his acting career, as neither he nor any BJP candidate is going to win from Kerala. Ever since he (Gopi) joined ranks with the BJP and the Sangh Parivar forces, even his films got affected because of his political stand,” the veteran CPI-M leader said.
Jayarajan also dismissed the exit polls, specifically two done by national agencies which indicated that the Left in Kerala will be wiped out and the BJP will open its account in the state by winning more than one seat. In the 2019 polls, the Congress-led UDF, which won 19 seats, secured a vote share of 47.48 per cent, the CPI-M-led Left Front, which won just one, got 36.29 per cent vote and the BJP managed a mere 15.64 per cent vote share.
“Exit polls are just humbug and have no scientific or logical backing. The main purpose of such an exercise is to show the Left in a poor light. We will do well this time,” said Jayarajan.
Incidentally, Jayarajan figured in controversy soon after the Lok Sabha polls in the state got over with senior Kerala BJP leader Sobha Surendran claiming that with the help of middleman T.G. Nandakumar, Jayarajan had a meeting with BJP leader Prakash Javadekar for his move to the BJP.
Jayarajan and his party dismissed the allegation as baseless, but speculations now are that, if the Left fails to improve upon the 2019 results, he might quit as LDF Convenor. He has also been cut up with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as he was constantly sidelined when it came to being sent to the party Politburo and he was not made the state Secretary, with both these being to M.V. Govindan, who is junior to him in the party.
Meanwhile, Gopi’s principal rival and present Congress MP K.Muraleedharan said the BJP will be able to open its account only in the bank in Kerala and not for the Lok Sabha.
–IANS