Kottayam: Actor-filmmaker and Congress supporter Ramesh Pisharody on Friday campaigned for UDF candidate Chandy Oommen in Puthuppally.
In his brief speech at an election rally, he was sarcastic as he attacked the CPM-led Left front while he did not forget to share a piece of advice with his party rank and file.
“I did not come here for campaigning earlier because I thought I would go with the trend of keeping mum. The trend is that you keep silent as long as possible. If at all you speak, use just a couple of words. It would be better if you could quote a proverb or two,” Pisharody told the UDF workers.
His target was Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who has not responded to the corruption allegations against his daughter despite addressing several election rallies in Puthuppally. Pinarayi has often repeated a Malayalam proverb which could be loosely translated as “you need not fear if your pockets are empty.”
Pisharody went on to slam the CPM leaders and supporters saying they changed colours just like a chameleon. “When I came here I understood that a particular species is in trouble here. I saw chameleons killing themselves because a set of people who brazenly changed their stances overnight had landed here. Poor chameleons’ ego has been hurt by those people’s skill in changing colours,” he said.
“They attacked Oommen Chandy vehemently when he was alive. When he died they sang his praises. When the bypoll was announced they reverted to their original self – bashing Oommen Chandy again,” he said.
He reminded the crowd how the CPM leaders and supporters called K M Mani names when he was with Congress and faced corruption charges and started praising him when his party shifted allegiance.
Responding to the criticism that Chandy Oommen was imitating his father during the election campaign, Pisharody said those who could not differentiate between imitation and legacy were making such allegations.
His advice to Congress was that the party should keep telling people about what it has done. “We don’t need to exaggerate. We just have to tell the people what we have done. We saw the blitzkrieg over the launch of a train. It was during Congress rule that all high-speed trains were introduced but the party did not make a claim of it,” Pisharody said referring to how Prime Minister Narendra Modi made political mileage over the launch of Vande Bharat trains.
“It was the Congress government that established all medical colleges in Kerala. We should not hesitate to state these facts,” he said.
He repeated the Congress’ argument that Oommen Chandy did not make Puthuppally a party village – referring to CPM-dominated areas of north Kerala – despite representing the constituency for 53 years.
