For Shobhana, it is a prestigious battle

Thiruvananthapuram: The De-mocratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) has an uphill task of ensuring at least nine of its candidates win the Kerala Assembly polls.

It has become a prestigious issue for the DIC(K) since nine of its MLAs had quit their posts after they decided to leave the Congress and join DIC(K).

Leading the party's prospects is the party president K. Muraleedharan, in Koduvally constituency.

And down south, Shobhana George, one of the party's best-known faces, is carrying the party's hopes on her shoulders in in the Thiruvananthapuram West constituency.

The contest here has been given a dramatic twist with Congress party's Sharat-chandra Prasad deciding to enter the scene.

He has joined the fray in protest against the Congress for denying him a seat and instead giving it to Shobhana who had been one of the severest critics of the Congress and the United Democratic Front until her party was taken into the UDF alliance on poll-eve.

Yet another twist was added to the tale when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) decided to support Prasad instead of fielding its own candidate.

This, however, is not perceived as being totally helpful for Prasad's cause because some communities could be put off because of his BJP backing.

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) allotted the Thiruvananthapuram West seat to the Kerala Congress (J), whose sitting MLA Antony Raju could not contest after being tainted in a drug smuggling case.

In Raju's absence, the party has fielded Surendran Pillai, making the contest a triangular one.

Prasad says he is now on the "side of the people" and not with any particular political party, while Shobhana is highlighting the developmental works she carried out in Chengannur, which she now represents.

All three harbour hopes of victory. While the LDF candidate feels that support of the People's Democratic Party will come in handy, Prasad feels that BJP support for him will give him an edge.

Shobhana feels that she can bank on the traditional Congress votes as well as the DIC(K) machinery.

Unlike the other candidates, however, for Shobhana this is a prestigious fight. She has to defeat a former Karunakaran aide who later fell out with him, as well as win the seat for her party, for which every seat is precious.

Left: Muraleedharan with a young admirer during his election campaign in Koduvally.