Amidst expectations of a high-octane battle, electioneering at Puthuppally is failing to pick up momentum even a day after the announcement of the date of the byelection.
While the political coalitions are wasting no time to establish the contours of the fight through an exchange of statements, the delay in choosing the line-up eclipsed political action on the ground on Wednesday. Even the United Democratic Front (UDF), which announced the candidature of Chandy Oommen within hours after the declaration of the bypoll on September 5, made a rather slow start to its campaign.
Following in the footsteps of his late father Oommen Chandy, Mr. Oommen launched his campaign by offering prayers at St. George Orthodox Church at Puthuppally early in the day. He used the day hours mostly to reach out to different personalities with whom his father had maintained a close relationship, while also attending a couple of funerals.
Besides holding discussions with the party leadership, he paid a brief visit to the State committee office of the Cherama Sambava Development Society (CSDS), an organisation that wields considerable influence among the Dalit voters in the Assembly constituency. On Thursday, he is slated to visit senior Congress leader A.K. Antony in Thiruvananthapuram.
According to the UDF, the arrival of the Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan in Kottayam on Thursday will mark the formal launch of its electioneering in the constituency. The District Congress Committee and the Youth Congress State committee will also convene meetings in Kottayam and Puthuppally respectively on Thursday to discuss the plan of action.
Meanwhile, the Ayarkunnam block committee of the Congress has approached the election authorities seeking to postpone the byelection as the present schedule coincided with the annual eight-day lent festival at St. Mary’s Jacobite Syrian Cathedral, Manarcad. According to K.K. Raju, president of the Congress block committee, at least four polling booths in the constituency are located close to the church.
Even as it is yet to finalise the candidate, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) remains confident of hitting the ground running with a well-laid coalition network. At the same time, it has commenced efforts to deny the UDF an early advantage through the announcement of Mr. Oommen as its candidate.
“The hurried declaration of Mr. Oommen’s candidature was indeed due to the fear of more leaders staking their claims for the ticket,” said K. Anil Kumar, a member of the CPI(M) State committee. He sought to highlight how almost all Congress leaders used to “bash” Oommen Chandy when he was alive.
While the CPI(M), which is considering a few names, is expected to name its candidate on Saturday, the BJP will make a formal declaration in this regard after a meeting of the party core committee in Thrissur the following day.
Meanwhile, the Left party has also explored the options to field a former aid of Oommen Chandy as its candidate. Sensing trouble, the Congress leadership too has commenced efforts to convince him against contesting.
