But the PF former youth national secretary Eric Chanda has condemned Mr Kalusa for suggesting that his party is not popular in rural areas.
Mr Kalusa said there is no need for the PF to undermine the UPND when the party‘s popularity is growing countrywide.
He also said that the loss that the PF has suffered in Mpulungu is an indication that the party is not popular in rural areas.
Mr Kalusa was speaking in an interview in Ndola yesterday.
He said the UPND’s victory in the Chilanga by-election is a timely answer to the PF officials who claim that the UPND is a junior partner in the PF-UPND pact.
UPND candidate Cosmas Moono polled 3,702 beating his closest rival, MMD’s Keith Mukata who got 2,339 votes while Henry Silumesi of UNIP polled 131 with Valerie Bwalya of National Restoration Party (NAREP) getting 50.
Mr Kalusa said the UPND’s victory in the Chilanga by-election has put to rest claims by PF officials that the UPND is a junior partner in the PF-UPND alliance.
“The plan of an under-5 politician, Hakainde
Hichilema, is working very well and this victory in Chilanga by-election has put to bed claims by PF officials that UPND is a junior partner in the pact.
We have won this seat in Lusaka and not in Southern Province. This shows that UPND is not a regional political party but a national party with a huge following countrywide,” he said.
He hoped that PF officials will start respecting their colleagues in the UPND as equal partners in the sustainability of the pact.
Mr Kalusa said some sections of the media should take the blame for allegedly portraying to the nation that the PF is popular in Mpulungu through its reporting.
“The pact was made to believe that the PF is very popular in Mpulungu with the pictures we were seeing of huge crowds attending PF rallies.
We were going to beef up the pact team in campaigning for the PF in Mpulungu if some sections of the media did not mislead us. We were misled by some media,” he said.
Mr Kalusa said the MMD’s victory in Mpulungu is an indication that the ruling party is still popular in rural areas.
“The truth is that the pact is not popular in rural areas and there is need for the alliance leaders to take the pact manifesto to rural areas so that people can know about the existence of the pact.
The MMD has just proved to us that they are popular in rural areas with their victory in Mpulungu. The pact is just concentrated in town and the sooner we take it to our brothers in rural areas the better for us in the alliance,” he said.
But Mr Chanda condemned Mr Kalusa for suggesting that the PF is not popular in rural areas.
Mr Chanda said in an interview yesterday in Lusaka that the PF has got well-established structures in rural areas and that the Mpulungu seat was just difficult to win.
“I would like to advise Mr Kalusa that he should not ignite the fire in the pact.
In the first place, I would like to congratulate the UPND for scooping the Chilanga seat in Lusaka and congratulate ourselves (PF) for closing the gap in Mpulungu. The Mpulungu seat has always been difficult to win,” Mr Chanda said.
He advised Mr Kalusa against issuing statements which have the potential to break the alliance and that the PF leadership is happy that UPND won the Chilanga parliamentary seat.
The MMD won the Mpulungu seat through Given Mung’omba who polled 5,003 votes. The closest contestant was the PF’s Freedom Sikazwe who got 4,419 votes.
Mr Alex Mwazya of NAREP got 331 votes while UNIP’s Germanico Simusokwe got 112 votes.
The ADD candidate, Chilowela Sinyangwe, had 62 votes.
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