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Achuthanandan not to campaign in West Bengal

April 20, 2011 15:06 IST
Communist Party of India-Marxist stalwart and Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, the star campaigner for the Left Democratic Front in the April 13 Assembly polls, on Wednesday said he would not campaign for Left Front candidates in West Bengal.

"I am not going" was the reply of 87-year-old Achuthanandan when asked by reporters at his Cabinet briefing in Thiruvananthapuram whether he would leave for West Bengal to campaign.

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Media reports had indicated that Achuthanandan would campaign for Left Front candidates in West Bengal. The Kerala chief minister expressed confidence that the ruling CPM-led LDF in Kerala would get a comfortable majority in the Assembly polls.

To a question on whether he would be chief minister again if the LDF won the polls, he said, "The issue will be decided later."

Achuthanandan also termed as baseless the charge of opposition leader Oommen Chandy that he had forwarded the petition on allegations against his son A V Arun Kumar to the Lok Ayukta with an intention to scuttle the probe. "The charges were baseless and you (media) don't believe the words of the opposition leader," he said.

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