The Hindu : Kerala News : Both LDF, UDF camps optimistic

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 06, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Both LDF, UDF camps optimistic

By R. Madhavan Nair

KOZHIKODE MAY 5. The final lap of the electoral race in the Kozhikode Lok Sabha constituency is going to be crucial for the main contestants in the fray - the State Janata Dal(Secular) president, M. P. Veerendrakumar, contesting under the banner of the Left Democratic Front (LDF), and V. Balaram, the Congress candidate fielded by the United Democratic Front (UDF).

UDF campaigners believe that their candidate's chances would brighten with today's visit of the Congress chief, Sonia Gandhi, to Kozhikode to campaign for Mr. Balaram. The local Congress leadership is aware that the quarrels within their party have caused a considerable damage to the party's image even among traditional Congress supporters. The confidence in the UDF camp stems from the constituency's electoral history. UDF candidates have posted a string of victories from here. The strong presence of Muslim voters who usually vote for the UDF is a source of confidence for the Congress candidate.

Mr. Veerendrakumar, being a native of Kalpetta, which is part of the constituency, is better known to voters. He had also won the Lok Sabha poll in 1996, capitalising on resentment among Congressmen and Muslim voters and had become a Union Minister. Mr. Balaram, who is making his debut in politics in Kozhikode, is still engaged in the exercise to make himself familiar to the electorate.

Mr. Veerendrakumar, who is now the president of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS), had an early start in electioneering as Congress workers remained mired in their intra-party quarrels led by the Chief Minister, A. K. Antony, and the senior party leader, K. Karunakaran. However, after the two senior leaders decided to call a truce, the Congress campaigners launched a vigorous campaign and appeared to have caught up with their rival.

But the progress made by the UDF campaigners has not shaken the LDF confidence. Mr. V. V. Dakshinamoorthy, Kozhikode district secretary of the CPI(M), which controls a large vote bank in the constituency, told The Hindu that though the UDF had pumped more money into its campaign, Mr. Veerendrakumar's chances continued to be bright. But he admitted that there was more activity in the UDF camp now than when electioneering started. Mr. Dakshinamoorthy said the LDF campaigners were pleasantly surprised to find many families which had been voting for the UDF in the past were "feeling disgusted'' with the "quarrels in the State Congress''. These traditional Congress supporters " have promised them to vote for Veerendrakumar,'' he claimed.

The Tourism Minister, P. Sankaran is leading the campaign for the UDF candidate. The voters' response has by and large remained inscrutable. The campaign itself has been on a low key till now, though Mr. Veerendrakumar and Mr. Balaram have travelled all over the constituency and addressed a number of meetings. The slogan, "India shining'', evokes derisive laughter in many places.

The LDF has made distress among farmers and the bleak industrial scene in the constituency as its main campaign points. In the two Assembly segments of the constituency which are situated in Wayanad district, a severe drought has devastated pepper, tea and coffee gardens. Steep fall in prices of these farm produces has broken the backbone of the agriculture economy there. According to a report prepared by the Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Kozhikode, as many as 99 farmers have committed suicides in the four months of this year alone. An organisation by name, the Farmers Relief Forum and the Indian Farmers Movement (Infam), have threatened to use its voters against the ruling UDF if the Government does not give generous aid to farmers in distress. The former has fielded its chairman, A. C. Varkey, as a candidate.

In the constituencies in Kozhikode revenue district, a number of factories are closed down, including the Birla-owned Grasim Industries unit at Mavoor and the public sector Kerala Soaps and Oils Ltd. Besides the main contestants, the BJP candidate, M. T. Ramesh, has also been wooing the electorate through a vigorous campaign, hoping to post the highest tally for his party in the constituency's history. In this endeavour, BJP campaigners expect the chilling Marad murders, in which nine persons were killed in a seaside village just outside the limits of the constituency, to generate votes in their favour. The Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani's visit is an attempt in this direction. The claim of the BJP leadership that there has been an upsurge in its support in North Kerala on May 7 would be one of the political points that would be put to test in the May 10 election.

In a close contest, the votes polled by the BJP and smaller parties such as Farmers Relief Forum are going to be critical to the poll outcome.

To confuse the voters, candidates having the same name as UDF's V. Balaram and LDF's M. P. Veerendrakumar are also in the fray. As many as 13 are in the electoral race. Among the others in the contest are D. Surendranath of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI), K. Arun Kumar, who claims to have the support of the National Janata Party led by Vijay Mallaya, and the Rashtriya Mahasabha's candidate, Babu Karyabadi. The Rashtriya Mahasabha is the political arm of the Adivasi Gothra Mahasabha which made an abortive bid to seize the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, to press its demand for land for landless tribal people. Also in the fray is Mr. A. V. K. Moosad, a journalist who hopes to popularise vegetarianism by contesting the election.

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