The Hindu : Kerala News : A close UDF-LDF fight on the cards

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 29, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

A close UDF-LDF fight on the cards

By G. Prabhakaran

PALAKKAD, APRIL 28. The Ottappalam (SC) Lok Sabha constituency, which the former President, K. R. Narayanan, represented thrice, is witnessing a key contest between S. Ajayakumar of the CPI(M) which heads the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and his main rival, K. A. Thulasi of the Congress, the main partner in the United Democratic Front (UDF).

The constituency which is spread over Palakkad and Thrissur districts acquired more attention as the Electricity Minister, K. Muraleedharan, is contesting from the Wadakkancherry Assembly constituency.

The four Assembly segments - Thrithala, Pattambi, Ottappalam and Kuzhalmannam - are in Palakkad district. The remaining three Assembly segments - Wadakkancherry, Kunnamkulam and Chelakkara - are in Thrissur district.

In the 2001 Assembly elections, Thrithala, Chelakkara, Kuzhalmannam and Ottappalam were won by the LDF. The UDF won Pattambi, Wadakkancherry and Kunnamkulam. The LDF candidate had a lead of nearly 10,000 votes over the UDF candidate in the seven Assembly segments of this Lok Sabha constituency.

Electioneering picked up after the Chief Minister, A. K. Antony, addressed half-a-dozen meetings for the UDF candidate in the constituency during his Navodhana Yatra. The Congress is putting up a united fight in the three Assembly segments of Pattambi, Thrithala and Ottappalam because group fights are comparatively less in the party here. This gives a favourable situation for Ms. Thulasi.

But to match the well-oiled election machinery of the LDF that was pressed into service soon after the announcement of the election, the UDF has to sweat it out because of their late launching of its campaign.

The BJP candidate, P. K. Velayudhan, is making a determined effort to increase its vote tally. In the last Lok Sabha election, the BJP cornered 63,000 votes registering a steady increase in the party votes in the last three elections. Both the LDF and UDF candidates are worried over the efforts of the BJP to put up an impressive show in this election.

The Congress is making a determined effort to recapture Ottappalam which they lost after Mr. K. R. Narayanan vacated it in 1993 to become the Vice-President of India. The Ottappalam constituency was a Left fortress until Mr. Narayanan entered the fray as a Congress candidate in 1984. In the 1993 byelection, after Mr. Narayanan vacated the seat, the CPI(M) candidate, S. Sivaraman, won the seat with a record majority of 1,33,674 votes. This election was fought on the issue of demolition of Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. The Muslim community was then agitated over the Congress regime's failure to protect the monument.

UDF campaign managers feel that this situation has vastly changed and the minorities will rally round the Congress throughout the country as they wanted the BJP rule at the Centre to go

because of their "anti-minority and anti-secular'' actions. They say that Muslim and Christian minorities constitute nearly 40 per cent of the voters in the constituency.

Though Ottappalam is highly political in its voting behaviour, the voting preference of Muslim voters are critical in Pattambi, Ottappalm and Thrithala Assembly segments. In Kunnamkulam and

Wadakkancherry Assembly segments, Christian voters hold the key.

The main issues in the constituency are drought, drinking water shortage and destruction of paddy and other crops. The area has a large number of middle and marginal farmers. The crisis in the agriculture sector affected a large number of farmers and agriculture workers.

The drying-up of Bharathapuzha, the main source of water in the area, is a major issue. Protection of Bharathapuzha is the major demand of large sections of the people, particularly

environmentalists. They are asking all political parties to make their stand clear on indiscriminate sand-mining, encroachment of the river and its present plight.

The Bharathapuzha Protection Committee is running a campaign highlighting the failure of the successive Governments and major political parties to take concrete steps to protect the river. They have began a march on Tuesday through the river bank from Walayar to Ponnani to highlight the need to protect this important river basin.

While the UDF campaign blames the sitting MP for the backwardness of the area and his failure to bring any major projects, LDF campaign managers say that Mr. Ajayakumar was instrumental in bringing major railway development projects in the constituency.

They say that electrification of railway lines from Shoranur to Ernakulam, allotment of Rs. 25 crores for laying double lines and `bulb line' in the Shoranur station are due to his efforts. Mr. Ajayakumar also claimed that the Rs.2.5-crore building complex for the Panchakarma Ayurveda Hospital at Cheruthuruthy was his achievement.

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