Ready to contest if party decides: Achutanandan

Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan on Thursday expressed his readiness to contest in the coming assembly election, if his party asked him to go for another electoral battle.

"Certainly," was his answer when asked at a meet-the-press programme in Thiruvananthapuram whether he would enter the fray if the party directed him to do so.

The veteran leader said the party would decide who should lead the campaign in the assembly elections. Asked whether he expected another call from the party, Achuthanandan said, "That you will know when the party decides."

When reporters drew his attention to Communist Party of India state secretary C K Chandrappan's statement that Achuthanandan's popularity would do good to the Left Democratic Front in the elections, the Chief Minister said, "They are all independent observations of Front partners."

He expressed the hope that the 2011 assembly elections would create history by retaining the LDF government in the state unlike in the past when Kerala chose governance of LDF and UDF alternately since 1977.

The people were aware of the corrupt deals during the UDF government's reign which were coming out, he said.

On the memorandum submitted to him by Opposition Leader Oommen Chandy on Wednesday listing charges against him and his son V A Arun Kumar, Achuthanandan said he would give a reply to the letter.

There was no scope for probe as the Opposition had not given any proof as basis for the complaints, he said.

"Arun Kumar is an Indian citizen. He is moving Court against the charges made against him. Those who levelled the charges can move in the same way," he said.

Achuthanandan said in his second letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking CBI probe into the operations of other state lotteries in Kerala, he had also asked the latter to probe the charge against his son that he tried to `sabotage' such an enquiry to help the lottery operators.

Asked whether the SNC-Lavalin case involving CPI-M state secretary would be an election campaign issue, he said "The case was now in court."

The case relates to alleged corruption in awarding of contracts to Canadian firm SNC-Lavalin for renovation of three hydel projects in 1998 when Vijayan was electricity minister.