Thiruvananthauram, June 5 (BPNS)

CPM politburo member and former Kerala Minister, M.A. Baby has said that the calculations at the Thrikkakara by-elections done by the party have gone wrong. He however said that the defeat in the by-election was not against the state government and added that if that was the case, Narendra Modi would be responsible for the BJP candidate in Thrikkakara losing his deposit.

Baby said that the Semi High-Speed Silverline project will be implemented only after taking into account all the environmental clearances. The senior CPM leader said that the project was a showcase for the development of Kerala and added that the genuine concerns of the people of the state would be taken into account before implementing the Silverline project.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan did not respond to repeated queries from media persons on the drubbing faced at Thrikkakara. When reporters sought the reaction of Vijayan at Kannur while he was coming out from a public function, he did not respond and ignored the questions.

 It is to be noted that Chief Minister has not given any statement on the defeat in the by-election even after he had led the electioneering with all the state ministers, party legislators , state leaders camping in the constituency and spending heavily.

Senior CPM leader and former politburo member of the party , S. Ramachandran Pillai responded that Chief Minister would respond as and when he feels right to respond regarding the by-election results. Pillai also said that Thrikkakara was a UDF citadel and the CPM and left front had tried to make a dent into it but did not happen.

He also said that Twenty 20 and BJP votes were received by the Congress candidate Uma Thomas and this had increased her margin of victory.