By P. Sreekumaran
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Will Nemom, known as ‘Kerala’s Gujarat’, favour the BJP candidate and the party’s state chief Rajiv Chandrasekhar?
That is the question doing the rounds in the State’s political corridors. While the BJP camp is ‘confident’ of wresting the seat from CPI(M) candidate V. Sivankutty, the Left Democratic Front(LDF) is sure that Sivankutty will retain the seat quite comfortably.
It may be mentioned that BJP veteran O. Rajagopal had won from Nemom in 2016 assembly poll, becoming the first BJP leader to make it to the State Assembly. But Sivankutty wrested the seat in 2021, defeating BJP’s Kummanam Rajasekharan.
The saffron camp is exuding optimism. Their confidence stems from the party’s impressive win in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation poll. Rajiv had lost the 2024 Lok Sabha poll to Congress’s Shashi Tharoor. But the BJP thinks the situation has changed in its favour since the LS polls.
Congress has fielded K. S. Sabarinathan, former MLA from Aruvikkara and a councillor in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. Sabarinathan is campaigning hard to regain the constituency which it has not won since the delimitation exercise in 2008.
The LDF is leaving no stone unturned to ensure Sivankutty’s victory. The LDF camp is banking on the stellar performance of the Pinarayi Government during the last 10 years. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan himself addressed a well-attended rally in Nemom, declaring that the BJP will not win a single seat in the election.
PERAVOOR: The constituency is witnessing a bruising battle this time between CPI(M)’s KK Shailaja and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee(KPCC) president Sunny Joseph, the sitting MLA.
Although Peravoor is a traditional Congress stronghold, the CPI(M) is determined to wrest the seat. And the party has assigned senior leader K K Shailaja to pull it off.
The CPI(M) is banking on the LDF Government’s good governance record and Shailaja’s personal popularity. And the party’s organizational machinery is moving like a well-oiled machine, storming the constituency in its bid to unseat the KPCC chief, who won in 2021 with a slender majority of 3,172 votes. Sunny Joseph is further handicapped by the allegations of misappropriation of funds collected by the party to construct houses for Wayanad landslide victims and survivors. The Congress’s inability to explain the failure to construct the houses is bound to affect its chances not only in Peravoor but also in Wayanad as well.
THRISSUR: The cultural capital of Kerala is witnessing a no-holds-barred fight among the CPI, Congress and the BJP.
The CPI has fielded cultural activist and poet Alankode Leelakrishnan replacing sitting MLA P. Balachandran. The latter had won in 2021, defeating Padmaja Venugopal of the Congress. Padmaja has since defected to BJP and is the party’s candidate this time. The Congress has fielded a local leader Rajan Pallan, who is quite popular in the constituency, having remained Thrissur Mayor for a term.
The BJP is depending heavily on the Suresh Gopi factor to wrest the seat from CPI. But Suresh Gopi, who created history by becoming the first BJP MP by winning the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat in 2024, has lost his image. His arrogance and stand-offish attitude has alienated a big slice of Thrissur voters. The party’s campaign has also been marred by allegations of distribution of food kits to influence the voters. The rival candidates have filed a complaint with the Police, who have seized food packets from the constituency.
From the look of things, it seems the CPI candidate may emerge the victor in a tight contest.
In Manjeswaram, a BJP stronghold, former BJP state president K. Surendran is trying his luck for the fourth time. He had lost the last battle by a wafer-thin majority of 745 votes.
His main rival is Indian Muslim League (a constituent of the Congress in the United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate Ashraff, the sitting MLA. It is a neck and neck race. But BJP circles think Surendran will be fourth time lucky. (IPA Service)
