"Rampant Corruption, People Want Change": Congress Leader KC Venugopal On Kerala Poll

There is "rampant corruption" within the CPM-led Kerala government, Congress leader KC Venugopal said Thursday at an NDTV summit in the build-up to the April/May Assembly election.

Venugopal expressed confidence the Congress – buoyed by stronger-than-expected results in the December local body elections – will return to power in the state, pointing out that even though the party-led UDF alliance lost in 2021 the vote-share margins were quite narrow.

The Congress-led UDF secured 25.12 per cent of the votes in the last election, while the CPM-led LDF picked up 25.38 per cent; the UDF vote share increased by 0.66 per cent while the LDF's rose by 1.95 per cent. The gain was thanks to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, which dropped 2.55 per cent, though the Bharatiya Janata Party itself scored 0.77 per cent more.

Defeat in the last election, he declared, was because of "some reasons" like the pandemic.

"But you can see our vote percentage is not that much lower. And now, after 10 years of LDF (i.e., the CPM-led Left Democratic Front) rule people of Kerala have decided there should be a change in government," he said playing prognosticator, "There are lot many issues out there."

"Rampant corruption is there in the system. Arrogance is at its peak. Everywhere you can see unemployment. Even people who got top rank in public service exams can't get jobs."

"There is a feeling, even among communist voters, that this (the CPM coalition) is not 'their government'. The government's attitude is not looking like a communist administration."

This growing discontent is the reason the Congress did so well in the December local body polls, Venugopal told NDTV. The party and its allies picked up 38.81 per cent of the votes four months ago – an increase of 2.8 per cent from the 2020 elections – and secured clear majorities at every level from Gram Panchayats (505 of 871 seats) to municipal corporations (four of six).

Venugopal, a three-time Lok Sabha MP and three-time MLA from Kerala's Alappuzha, played down talk of him becoming the Congress' chief ministerial face for this election. He pointed out he had been appointed to numerous senior positions over a five-decade career and said, "Therefore, for me position is not at all an issue. My priority is to make my party, my coalition, win the Kerala election. How far can I help in that process… that is what I have to do."