Key Kerala campaigners return to their own turfs

Just a week to go for the close of campaigning and the top commanders of Kerala’s three political fronts are returning to their own constituencies.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who leads the United Democratic Front campaign, will be spending a substantial amount of time in his Puthuppally constituency in Kottayam district in the few days of electioneering that remain. VS Achuthanandan, 92, who spearheads the Left Democratic Front campaign, will be confined to his Malampuzha constituency in Palakkad district until polling day. Veteran RSS pracharak Kummanam Rajasekharan, who was made BJP State president a few months ago, will be concentrating on his Vattiyoorkkavu constituency for the next week.

Chandy, a workaholic known to put in 18-hour work days, has so far not got much time to canvas for votes in Puthuppally, which has elected him to the Assembly for an unbroken 10 times. As outgoing Chief Minister, he has been holding the government’s fort under the Election Commission’s gaze. Over the past one month, the 72-year-old has addressed scores of UDF campaign rallies in every corner of the State.

However, in Puthuppally this time, he is taking on a political novice, the 25-year-old Jaik C Thomas of the CPI(M). He is quite confident that Puthuppally will send him to the Assembly for the 11 time.

Achuthanandan, shy of five months to turn 93, has been keeping a killing schedule all these weeks. He has been criss-crossing the State, voluntarily carrying the cross of the ‘chief LDF campaigner’, provoking the political class and giving a tit-for-tat to opponents, mainly Chandy.

This is the third time he is seeking election from Malampuzha. He is taking on 29-year-old VS Joy of the UDF. But the BJP is trying its best by mobilising Ezhava caste votes with a view to sharply reducing Achuthanandan’s majority.

Compared to Chandy and Achuthanandan, Rajasekharan, who is the public face of the BJP-led front, is inexperienced in practical politics, but he has grassroots-level experience of working for the RSS for decades.

Like the other two, he had to travel around, campaigning for the front’s candidates.

In his Vattiyoorkavu constituency in Thiruvananthapuram, his opponents are the LDF’s TN Seema and UDF’s K Muraleedharan. Muraleedharan, the son of the late K Karunakaran, is the sitting MLA.

Though Rajasekharan was mostly away from the constituency, the well-oiled RSS machinery has taken care of the campaign as the NDA has high hopes from Vattiyoorkavu.

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