Only Cong can uphold secularism: Chandy

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, on a one-day tour of Bangalore, said that if people wanted to preserve the secular credentials of the country, then they had no choice but to vote for the Congress.

“The only party which can uphold the credentials of our Constitution, our mainstay of secularism, is the Congress,” he said. Here to campaign for the party after the completion of elections in Kerala, Chandy said the country had not seen any sort of Modi wave.

“There is no wave of any sort. This has been further proved by their own party leader Murali Manohar Joshi who has acknowledged the absence of any such thing,” he said.

On his experience so far in Bangalore, after having a few meetings with local leaders in the Bangalore North constituency, with party candidate C Narayanaswamy, the Kerala chief minister said the BJP was harping on a single-point campaign strategy. They are looking at a Modi-centric campaign and nothing beyond that, he said. 

On the prospects of the United Democratic Front in Kerala, Chandy said he was confident that the Congress-led coalition would secure 16 or more of the 20 Lok Sabha seats.

Asked whether there was a possibility of the BJP opening its account in Kerala, a sarcastic Chandy said: “They will have to wait for a few more years.”