Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Spirited battle in Attingal

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As the campaigning for the local body elections enters its home stretch, the battle cry in Attingal municipality is unmistakably ‘development.'

While the LDF is reeling out, at each street corner, the achievements of the municipal council it led for the last five years, the UDF is telling voters to give it a mandate for ‘real development' during the next five years. Each group appears equally confident that it has left the competition far behind.

31 wards

Following delimitation in the municipality which spans 16.87 sq. km., the number of wards went up from 28 to 31. Of this 16, are reserved for women; 14, in the general category; and two in the Scheduled Caste women category. The next chairperson too will be a woman.

Keenly conscious of the fact that Attingal has changed hands evenly over more than a decade now, the rival fronts have worked feverishly throughout the campaign to ensure that there is no erosion in their traditional vote banks.

There are 27,178 voters in Attingal, of which 14,992, are women.

In addition to reminding voters about its efforts to expand the operations of the garbage treatment plant in the municipality, the LDF has promised the voters that it will put in place a waste water treatment facility, a sewerage system, a scheme for conserving water bodies, expansion of meal scheme for schoolchildren, solar lighting in homes and township status for major colonies.

“Our achievements during the last five years are very evident and the people are solidly behind us. We are confident of a clear victory” said the former chairman of the municipality C. J. Rajesh Kumar.

For its part, the UDF has been repeatedly stressing that all that the LDF has done is to wind up development schemes put in place by UDF-led councils.

“The LDF closed down a women's industrial unit and a facility for the homeless. That is its model of development,” UDF campaign manager V. Jayaprakash told The Hindu.

“Attingal is a mountain of waste today. Roads are in disrepair. The people know all this and will give us the mandate this time,” he added.

Though not overtly, the UDF has also sought to make mileage out of a standoff between a standing committee chairman and a councillor - both from the LDF - a few months ago which resulted in fisticuffs inside the municipality building.

Even as the two major fronts battle it out for supremacy, the BJP which had just one seat in the last council, has rolled out a relatively low-key campaign.

While the Congress has fielded 29 candidates, the CPI(M) has 25 candidates in the fray.

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

Stories in this Section

Guidelines for insulin pump use
Touching more lives, in many ways
Isaac responds to comment by Chidambaram
Director of capital's airport shifted
Police, lawyers clash; 7 injured
Campaign in 7 districts ends today
No Cabinet meeting today
Rival fronts stake claim to development
Parties turn spotlight on new wards
Police initiate internal inquiry
Spirited battle in Attingal
Hall ticket
New wards crucial for both fronts in capital
In Tiruvananthapuram Today

Copyright © 2010, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu