Kerala bypoll turns into high-stakes battle for BJP

CHENGANNUR (ALAPUZHA): Buoyed by its recent success in Tripura, the Bharatiya Janata Party has turned its focus on the upcoming by-election for Chengannur assembly constituency to launch its ‘mission Kerala’, while the ruling CPI(M) is putting all its might to prevent a saffron surge in the state, the last Left bastion.

The Congress, which of late ceded some opposition space to the BJP in the southern state, too is pulling out all the stops to regain the seat it lost in the 2016 state elections, giving an unprecedented political importance to the otherwise innocuous bypoll.

No by-election in the recent past has generated as much political interest with all three parties declaring their respective candidates even before the poll date has been announced.

The BJP leaders are claiming Chengannur will be the launching pad for the party in Kerala. For CPI(M), it will be more than a referendum on its government.

The death of sitting MLA KK Ramachandran Nair t wo months ago necessitated the bypoll, likely to be held in May.

The constituency had witnessed a fierce three-cornered contest in 2016 in which the CPI(M) candidate had won with a margin of over 7,000 votes.

This time, the Left party has fielded Alappuzha district secretary Saji Cherian to take on BJP’S P S Sreedharan Pillai and Congress’ SD Vijayakumar.

“For us, Chengannur is the launching pad for the state. Situation is quite favourable for the party after our resounding victory in Tripura,” said Pillai, the BJP candidate. CPI (M)’s Cherian said: “The RSS-BJP combine can’t enact Tripura in Kerala. It is a different ball game.”