With less than three weeks to go for the byelection in Puthupally, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) are engaged in an intense game of managing the electoral narratives here.
While the LDF has put up a concerted attempt to fix the campaign to infrastructure development, the UDF has sought to veer off and, in turn, has sharpened its attack on the State government over the recent scams.
Setting the tone of its election campaign, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan on Saturday ridiculed the LDF demand to discuss development issues in the constituency.
“The financial position of the State has come to such a point that not a single cheque above ₹5 lakh is cleared by the treasury. It is such a big joke that a government, which can’t even afford to build a drainage, is now challenging us to discuss development,” he said.
He said the Opposition would rather want the LDF to respond to the scams that had engulfed the government. “This government is accused of being involved in at least six major scams, including the monthly pay off received by the company owned by the Chief Minister’s daughter. The CAG has found that in the KFON project, a consortium, including SRIT, was paid crores of rupees as interest-free mobilisation advances, causing a loss of ₹36 crore to the exchequer,” Mr. Satheesan said.
Rather than going on a full-scale political attack, the LDF too has sought to match up by holding onto the momentum it has gained through the development debate and is planning to reinforce the campaign by preparing a development action plan for the constituency.
“Almost all Ministers of the LDF government will be holding interactions with the public at 21 locations across the eight local bodies in Puthuppally,” said Cooperation Minister V.N. Vasavan, who heads the LDF campaign.
At the same time, it has also tapped into the developments at Kidangoor, a neighbourhood local body where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) joined hands with the UDF to oust the LDF from power. With the Kerala Congress(M) in its fold, the coalition also sees the bypoll as an opportunity to road-test the impact of Manipur violence in the Christian-majority electorate of Puthuppally ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year.
Meanwhile, the National Democratic Alliance too is also campaigning with gusto under the strict monitoring of BJP national general secretary Radhamohandas Agarwal and Union Minister V. Muraleedharan. The myth controversy and the allegations against the LDF and UDF leadership appear to have lent the national party a real sense of momentum.
The coalition is also expecting an array of national leaders, including Prakash Javadekar, Rajnath Singh, and Smriti Irani, to join the campaign in the later stages.
