The Hindu : Kerala News : Voters merciless in dealing with Congress

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 14, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Voters merciless in dealing with Congress

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MAY 13. The voters were merciless in dealing with Congress candidates in Kerala this time. They spared not even V. M. Sudheeren, a leader who had no part in the murky group rivalries that had been a feature of the Congress politics in the State during the past three years.

His image as a clean and affable politician too did not save him in Alappuzha Lok Sabha constituency, which he surrendered to K. S. Manoj of the CPI(M). This constituency was perceived as a safe bet for the UDF so long as Mr. Sudheeran was in the fray.

That his defeat was by a narrow margin of around 1,000 votes is a small consolation for the Congress. It appears that the enlightened voters of the State had this clear in their minds. They wanted to teach the Congress a lesson and they set about doing a clean job of it. So, Mr. Sudheeran, who had never tasted defeated in his long career in electoral politics, too had to bow to their will.

As the counting progressed, he was the Congress' last hope in the State, with the lead shifting from one side to the other till the last moment. His rival, a doctor by profession, was a novice in politics and it is doubtful whether he had ever entertained the ambition of contesting an election. He was the surprise find of the leader of the Opposition, V. S. Achuthanandan.

A day before the CPI(M) was to finalise the list of candidates for Kerala, Mr. Achuthanandan sent word to the party leaders in Alappuzha district to "search for a good candidate who can tilt the balance in the coastal areas of the district", which had always stood behind Mr. Sudheeran.

The next morning a young man was brought to the Cantonment House, the official residence of the Opposition leader. After a brief interview, Mr. Achuthanandan told Dr. Manoj: "I am going to suggest your name for the Alappuzha constituency. Be ready."

And the young man who can wield a surgeon's knife with far more flair than make a campaign speech turned a giant killer on the election arena.

The Congress' other hope was Ramesh Chennithala in the Mavelikkara constituency. His race with C. S. Sujatha of the CPI(M) was like a nail-biting marathon.

Ms. Sujatha kept herself a few paces behind Mr. Ramesh till the last lap and then forged ahead in a final spurt that saw her breasting the rope by a distance of over 5,800 votes.

Perhaps the trickiest contest in the State was that in the Thiruvananthapuram constituency, where the CPI veteran and former Chief Minister, P. K. Vasudevan Nair, was pitted against the sitting Congress MP, V. S. Sivakumar, and the BJP candidate and Union Minister, O. Rajagopal, in a three-cornered fight.

There was widespread talk among the voters of the constituency that Mr. Rajagopal deserved to represent the constituency in the Lok Sabha because of the development initiatives he had taken for the State in his capacity as a Minister in the Vajpayee Government.

He polled a staggering 68,000 votes more than he had in the last Lok Sabha elections from the constituency, but Mr. Rajagopal had still a lot of ground to cover to reach the summit.

It appears from the voting pattern that his prospects were marred partly by the consolidation of minority votes against him following the Togadia controversy at the height of the election campaign. All his carefully charted-out strategies to court the minorities fell flat following the Togadia incident.

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