Thiruvananthapuram: Despite suffering a massive debacle in the byelection to the Thrikkakara assembly constituency, Kerala's ruling CPM on Friday asserted that it would go ahead with its ambitious K-Rail project.
Addressing a press conference here, CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the project will be implemented if the government receives necessary permission from the Union government.
The proposed K-Rail project, also known as the SilverLine semi-high speed rail corridor, connecting the north and south of Kerala, was one of the main poll planks for the Congress and the CPM in the byelection.
Balakrishnan's statement came soon after Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan urged the Left government to withdraw the project in view of the election results.
Making their proposed rail corridor, which is strongly opposed by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), as a major campaign topic in the constituency, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said it was a battle between the proponents of pro-development and anti-development.
Justifying the poll debacle in the Thrikkakara byelection, the CPM said the UDF won the election as it was able to unite the anti-Left elements.
Congress candidate, Uma Thomas, on Friday won the Thrikkakara byelection and retained its stronghold defeating the CPI(M) candidate, Jo Joseph, with a historic margin of 25,016 votes.
Balakrishnan said the Left party lost the byelection, but its vote share has risen in the Thrikkakara constituency.
Balakrishnan said the party base at Thrikkakara was intact as the vote share of the Left has increased to 35.28 per cent from 33.32 per cent last time.
The party leader said the poll result was not a referendum on the K-Rail project.
"This election was not based on K-Rail. This was not a referendum on K-Rail," Balakrishnan said when asked whether the election result will prompt the government to halt its ambitious Silverline rail project.
He said, "The project will be implemented if the government receives necessary permissions from the Union government."
The Left leader said the increase in votes for UDF came from those who voted for the BJP and the Twenty20 in the constituency during last year's assembly polls.
The bypoll was necessitated in Thrikkakara, an urban constituency which comprises a major chunk of the Kochi Corporation, following the demise of Thomas late last year.
Though Thrikkakara has been a Congress bastion, the bypoll captured the attention of Kerala as the ruling CPM-led front had made an unprecedented grassroot-level campaign in the last one month fielding its top leaders and ministers.
Many Left leaders had openly told people that the proposed K-Rail project will not affect the bypoll result.
(With inputs from PTI)
