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Kerala poll scene gets warmer with rallies, visits of national leaders
Bharatiya Janata Party president JP Nadda is arriving in the state on February 4 for two-day visit to finalise the poll strategy.
Politicking in Kerala is gathering steam with assembly polls around the corner. While some of the parties have announced state-wide yatras to set the ball rolling, seat-sharing talks are also progressing at a faster pace. Bharatiya Janata Party president JP Nadda will be visiting the state on February 4 for two days to finalise the poll strategy.
State opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala will kick start his ‘Aiswaraya Kerala Yatra’ from the northern tip of the state in Mancheswaram on January 31. The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) has also planned two rallies next week - one will be led by CPI(M) acting secretary A Vijayaraghavan while CPI leader Binoy Viswam MP will lead the other one.
Parties have also started informal seat-sharing talks with the allies. Going by the poll history of the state, which never gave the ruling party another chance, it is the turn of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) but the recent victory of the LDF in local body elections shocked the opposition and ruling front has also started behaving as if continuation of power was almost certain.
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“We will highlight corruption and wrongdoings of the government. The state never witnessed such a corrupt regime. Gold smuggling to Life Mission kickbacks, the government looted the state. Now, the CPI(M) is spewing communal venom for a few votes,” said state Congress chief Mullapally Ramachandran. He said the government's inept handling and public relations exercise were behind the surge in Covid-19 virus cases.
As free food kits played a key role in local body elections, the Congress is planning to counter it with the ‘Nyay’ scheme which promises lower-income families a monthly ensured sum of ₹6,000. Party insiders said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will campaign extensively in the state as it is the key among five states that are going to the polls. Gandhi is a Lok Sabha member from Wayanad in north Kerala and spent two days there last week.
The LDF said growth, development and care will be its main planks. “The Congress is desperate for power and it even started talks with fringe outfits like the Welfare Party of India, a political wing of Jamat-e-Islami,” said Vijayaraghavan, adding it will be a repeat of the local body elections.
A distant third runner in state’s bipolar politics the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is trying its best to make its presence felt in the state. The only political gain of the BJP so far was the lone assembly seat it won in Nemom in Thiruvananthapuram during the last assembly elections. To break the jinx, the party has started cosying with various Christian denominations. Mizoram Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai has taken an initiative to broker peace between warring Christian groups in which Prime Minister Modi also participated.
The party said it will raise the Congress-CPI(M) alliance in West Bengal in a big way. “Both are alliance partners in Bengal and here they act as they are sworn enemies. We will expose their double standard,” said party state president K Surendran, adding that the party will win many seats this time.
