Southern States - Kerala   

Campaign ends today amid public apathy

By K. Venkiteswaran

KOCHI Sept. 20. With a host of senior leaders, including the AICC general secretary, Ahmed Patel, and the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, making it to Ernakulam, the campaigning for the September 23 by-election to the Lok Sabha is expected to reach the crescendo on Sunday notwithstanding the high degree of apathy on the part of the electorate.

The murky developments on the electoral front, especially in the Congress, have made the contest a neck-and-neck race. The main fight seems to be between two senior leaders of the Congress with the actual candidates in the fray taking a backseat. The Chief Minister, A. K. Antony, at an election meeting, has directly referred to his past experience of aligning with the Marxists — which was akin to confining oneself to a ``political rat-trap''. The senior Congress leader, K. Karunakaran, has pooh-poohed the point, saying that the Marxists have changed a lot and that at the national level, the Left no longer treats the Congress as enemy number one. The CPI(M) State secretary, Pinarayi Vijayan, has told presspersons that the LDF expects a big chunk of votes from the Karunakaran faction. Meanwhile, in the last lap of campaigning, flags and festoons flutter in every nook and corner of the constituency as `neta' after `neta' exhort a somnolent electorate to cast its vote in favour of their candidates.

The present by-election is almost a reminder of the 1997 outing when the voting percentage fell down to an all-time low of 50.77 and the LDF independent romped home with a slender margin. But the comparison stops there as political analysts see intense political undercurrents in this by-poll. For one, it has become a `proxy war' between Mr. Karunakaran and his `bete noire' (A.K. Antony) in the UDF camp. Both the LDF and the UDF have to confront the issue of `rebels' - the Congress-led UDF, which has put up M. O. John as its candidate, should be wary about the way Mr. Karunakaran would go about in achieving his aims and send a message to the leadership in New Delhi about his growing disenchantment with the party. The LDF and its Independent candidate, Sebastian Paul, would have to take into account how far the pull of the `ex-communists' would mar their prospects. The BJP, which supports V. Viswanatha Menon, should reckon whether it can retain its base after a new State president has taken over and whether there is any accretion of strength in the so-called `Hindu vote bank' in the constituency.

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