Pro-environmental Cong candidate on clean up drive

A day after the assembly elections, Congress candidate in Thrikkakkara constituency P T Thomas, known for his environmental activism, today set out on a clean up mission with party colleagues to remove the flex boards and banners used for campaigning, saying they were ecologically harmful.
The senior Congress leader, known for his environmental activism, said he had tried to avoid the use of flex boards as it cause environment and health problems.
"But we were forced to use it as it was an easily available campaign material for reaching out to people. Now elections are over and it is my duty to remove such ecologically harmful campaign materials," Thomas a former Lok Sabha member told PTI.

"We have started removing those campaign materials...And it will be completed in two days," he said.
Known for his environmental activism, Thomas was denied a ticket by the Congress to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha elections for strongly arguing for implementation of Madhav Gadgil Committee report on Western Ghats, tough the state government opposed it.
He had endorsed the Gadgil Committee report when he was representing Idukki seat in Lok Sabha during UPA-II rule.
Thomas dismissed exit polls projecting a win for LDF, saying all such predictions would be proved wrong and the ruling Congress-led UDF would get a comfortable majority.

He said he was also confident about his victory from the Thrikkakkara, where CPI(M) candidate Sebastian Paul, also a former Lok Sabha member, is his nearest rival.