Amid the crowded streets near Kallara junction located in the Attingal constituency, stood a large group of headload workers, youngsters sporting “The Joy of Attingal” t-shirts and some women, braving the scorching sun. As V.Joy, the Left Democratic Front (LDF)‘s candidate made his way to the street corner in his campaign vehicle, the slogans grew louder and the party workers crowded around him, garlanding him and gifting him books and farm produce.
In an indication of how the news travels lightning fast during election season, the candidate speaks to the crowd of the latest claim being made by a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader of helping the Congress in the previous election. “No one will trust the Congress in this election,” says Joy, as he rattles off a list ranging from the party’s stand regarding the Citizenship Amendment Act to the large number of defections from Congress to BJP and sitting MP, Adoor Prakash’s performance. “Things are different this time. Factors which favoured Congress last time will not work now,” says Bhaskaran, a Kallara resident, a claim which is echoed by Mr.Joy too.
But, Mr.Joy and Mr.Prakash, the sitting MP from Attingal, echo each other when they say that the “fight is between LDF and UDF”. At Chempoor, in another corner of the constituency, Mr.Prakash is involved in a much quieter but personal campaign, going around the shops and requesting for votes. His achievements over the past five years are announced loudly from a vehicle which is part of the entourage.
“I came here as an outsider last time. But, over the past five years I have become familiar to all of them, having spent all my time here, except during Parliament sessions. People have seen the work I have done, and most of them approach me despite their political allegiances. We will be raising the communal fascist policies of the Union government as well as the violent politics practised by the CPI(M) and their students’ wing, especially because the house of veterinary college student Siddharthan, who fell victim to such politics, is located here,” said Mr.Prakash.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate V.Muraleedharan and Union Minister of State for External Affairs, is visiting the residents of Poothura, a coastal village near Anchuthengu, which had borne the brunt of swell waves the night before.
“What I am pitching for is the idea that development of a particular area need not be geographically limited. Thiruvananthapuram city’s progress spills over to nearby areas. Connectivity will be the major issue. If connectivity is there, industry will come, people will travel and the area will develop,” says Mr.Muraleedharan.
The work on the Attingal Bypass, a perennial election promise in this vast rural constituency, is fast progressing, and the three candidates claim credit in equal measure for their fronts, for implementing it. It remains to be seen whose claims the electorate will buy, in what is expected to be a tight fight.
