Kerala rival fronts target each other as election campaign picks up

Thiruvananthapuram: Putting behind memories of the fireworks disaster earlier this month at the Puttingal Devi Temple, rival fronts in Kerala have swung into election campaign mode.

Kerala goes to the polls on May 16, with the Opposition Left Democratic Front aiming to topple the United Democratic Front government.

The third front, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, is not expected to win a considerable number of seats in the 140-member state assembly, but will play a key role in deciding the fortunes of LDF and UDF candidates in a majority of the constituencies.

Launching an early attack on the LDF, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president, V.M. Sudheeran took a potshot at the Communist Party of India Marxist, stating that if the LDF comes to power, “they will first set right V.S. Achuthanandan”. The Congress leader was doing a wordplay on the LDF campaign tagline, ‘LDF will come; everything will be all right’.

“How can those who cannot even approve of their own party leader, Achuthanandan, set right the whole state?”, Sudheeran asked.

“The CPM has become a symbol of intolerance. The CPM and the BJP have become two sides of the same coin with regards to intolerance”, Sudheeran said.

Not one to be left behind in cryptic repartees, Achuthanandan retorted: “The UDF election manifesto is such a joke. The manifesto claims that it will present a corruption-free government”.

“Travelling from Kannur to Dharmadam on Thursday, I went through the newspapers, all of which carried news about the UDF election manifesto. I could not contain my laughter. There are a total of 136 corruption cases registered against UDF leaders. Are these the people who are going to give a corruption-free rule in Kerala?”, Achuthanandan asked.

Achuthanandan alleged that there were cases against all ministers in the UDF government except minister Jayalakshmi.

While rival fronts are targeting each other, independent candidates are making their own pitch. Former chief whip, P.C. George who quit the UDF, was denied a ticket by the Left and is now contesting as an independent from the Poonjar constituency, said his chances were bright.

“There will be a hung assembly and myself as an independent MLA and the people of Poonjar will control the state assembly”, George told local media.

After his first round of campaigning for the assembly elections, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is confident of a Congress-led UDF victory in May.

“Things are looking very good,” Chandy told IANS after having campaigned for candidates of his Congress party and its allies in 13 of the state’s 14 districts.

“The trend is very encouraging. What I sense is that even in areas in Malabar (north Kerala districts of Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasargode), things look very good for us,” he said.

Chandy is only the second Congress chief minister to complete a full five-year term in office. He hopes to make history by leading the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) to victory in May.

Kerala is known to topple the ruling party in every election. Chandy hopes to break the norm.

Kerala will elect 140 legislators on May 16. The votes will be counted three days later.

“In the coming days, our campaign is only going to peak,” said Chandy.