Kerala   

Palakkad district witnessing high-profile campaign

G. Prabhakaran

Presence of prominent leaders of major political parties in the fray enlivens the poll scene

PALAKKAD: As the electioneering enters the final phase and the district goes to the polls on April 29, the Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by the CPI(M) seems to have an edge over the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) in majority of the 11 Assembly constituencies here.

The campaign here was intense thanks to the presence of prominent leaders of the State contesting from the District.

Top on the list is Leader of Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan seeking re-election from Malampuzha, veteran BJP leader O. Rajagopal contesting from Palakkad constituency in a bid to open his party's account in the State, CPI State assistant secretary K.E. Ismail contesting to recapture Pattambi, Janata Dal (S) secretary general K. Krishnankutty in Chittur and K.P. Anilkumar, State president of Youth Congress trying his luck at Sreekrishnapuram.

Star campaigners

On the campaign front, the presence of national leaders like Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan and others did the star turn.

In the last Lok Sabha elections, the LDF retained both the Palakkad and Ottapalam seats. In the local body elections, it won more than 75 per cent of the seats establishing its supremacy in the district.

In the last Assembly elections, of the 11 seats it won Malampuzha, Thrithala, Ottapalam, Alathur, Kuzhalmannam. This time they claim to win majority of the seats.

In Malampuzha, Mr. Achuthanandan is sitting pretty. LDF claimed that there is a strong wind in favour of the CPI(M) Polit Bureau member to win the seat with a thumping majority.

The LDF campaign managers said that their fight in Malampuzha is to get one of the highest majority in the State for the captain of the LDF election campaign.

Though UDF candidate Satheeshan Pacheni is putting up a brave fight, it is difficult to stop the CPI(M) stalwart in this `red fort.'

Malampuzha has elected only a CPI(M) candidate since its inception in 1965.

Three-cornered contest

Palakkad is the only constituency in the district that is witnessing a strong three-cornered contest with the entry of Mr. Rajagopal.

He is engaged in a close fight with his two main rivals A.V. Gopinath of the Congress and K.K. Divakaran of the CPI(M).

In this constituency, the result depend on how the 15,000-strong Tamil Brahmin community vote.

The seat was represented by C.M. Sundaram from that community for five times.

Ottapalam a strong hold of the CPI(M). But the seat was given to their ally Congress (S) leader V.C. Kabeer since 1980. He was winning by huge margin. But this time he has shifted loyalty after joining the Congress last year.

The LDF has put up a local CPI(M) strongman M. Hamsa, who was the key campaigner for Mr. Kabeer, all these years. Since the CPI(M) has considerable influence in the constituency they hope to retain the seat this time too.

Alathur is yet another CPI(M) fort which they lost only once, in 1991.

The constituency always elected CPI(M) candidates with a huge margin.

It was represented by none other than E.M.S. Namboodiripad in 1977.

In the last elections, the CPI(M) won the seat with a margin of 12,865 votes.This time CPI(M) State committee member M. Chandran, a close confidant of Mr. Achuthanandan, is contesting against the DIC(K)-UDF candidate A. Raghavan to retain the seat.

Kuzhalmannam, an SC Reserved seat, is another traditional fort of the CPI(M). Sitting MLA and CPI(M) State secretariat member A.K. Balan is engaged in a direct fight with C. Prakash of the UDF. The LDF hopes to retain the seat unless some unexpected undercurrents worked against it.

In Thrithala, also an SC Reserved seat, the CPI(M) has fielded a new candidate this time to retain the seat.

Its candidate T.P. Kunjunni is engaged in a close fight against P. Balan of the Congress-UDF.

Pattambi is known as the constituency of CPI(M) stalwart E.M.S. Namboodiripad and CPI veteran E.P. Gopalan.

Mr. Ismail had won the seat thrice earlier. But he lost it last time to C.P. Mohammed, KPCC general secretary.

These two leaders with considerable influence in the area are engaged in a very close fight. Ismail hopes to win the seat back this time, which he lost last time with a slender margin.

A number of Muslim minority groups such as PDP, INL, Jammat-e-Islami etc., have extended support to him.

Mannarkkad is another constituency witnessing a neck-and-neck contest between two influential local youth leaders - sitting MLA Kalathil Abdullah of the IUML, and Jose Baby of the CPI.

In this battle for the tribal heartland, the tribals and settlers hold the key.

Chittur is a star constituency where the fight is for each vote. The constituency has caught attention due to the four-year-old agitation against the soft drink giant Coca-Cola for depleting and polluting groundwater. Here the main issue is the irrigation and drinking water problems.

As an agriculture-dominated area, the crash in prices of agriculture products and the suicide of a couple of farmers dominated the election campaign.

Traditional rivals sitting MLA K. Achuthan of the Congress and Mr. Krishnankutty are engaged in a close fight making the result most unpredictable.

Sreekrishnapuram is constituency where both the LDF and UDF are evenly placed.

Here the Mr. Anilkumar is engaged in a close fight with CPI(M)-LDF candidate K.S. Saleekha.

The constituency has elected both the CPI(M) and Congress candidates.

In the last elections, DCC President V.S. Vijayaraghavan lost the seat to CPI(M) nominee Girija Surendran for a narrow margin of 21 votes.

The Congress is trying to recapture the seat from the CPI(M) this time by fielding a top youth leader of the party.

In Kollengode, it is a fight between two sitting MLAs, K.A. Chandran of the Congress, and V. Chenthamarakshan of the CPI(M).

The CPI(M) has shifted its Alathur MLA to take on the sitting Mr. Chandran.

In this predominantly agriculture area both the main contests have strong local link and are popular.

But the issues here are that of the problem of farmers and plantation workers of high ranges such as Nelliampathy.

It was once a stronghold of the CPI(M) which they lost for the last two terms.

This time they hope to win the seat.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Sonia's arrival gives boost to UDF poll campaign
UDF victory will strengthen Centre: Antony
Palakkad district witnessing high-profile campaign
Karat: UDF leaders' claims on development meaningless
Screening classic films for children
Trends in the IT field
Women shy away from polls in the first phase
Official documents for public scrutiny will contain notes too
Contest between patriots and anti-nationals: Joshi
Congress banking on development works: Scindia
Briefly

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu