Alappuzha: Ignoring the lower castes including the Ezhavas led to LDF's disastrous showing in Alappuzha in the just concluded Lok Sabha polls, said SNDP Yogam General Secretary Vellapally Natesan. He was speaking during the valedictory function of the second Sharadotsavam organised by SNDP Kuttanad South Union at St. Aloysius College, Edathua on Sunday.

“Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was more interested in wooing minority votes by upholding issues like Palestine and the citizenship bill,” Vellappally said. “People from the lower caste in Kuttanad face many challenges. They do not get a fair price for their agricultural products. Successive governments still have not ensured basic amenities like drinking water and houses for them,” he said.

Kuttanad MLA Thomas K Thomas' party NCP can't even find enough members to fill a boat, he quipped. “What has he done for the people of Kuttanad? His focus has been on securing a cabinet berth,” Vellappally said.
In the just concluded general elections, LDF's AM Ariff lost the Left Front's only sitting seat in Kerala to Congress' KC Venugopal with a margin of over 63,000 votes.
Even before the poll results were out, an internal LDF survey had made it clear that they were harbouring no hopes of retaining the Alappuzha constituency.