Central Kerala in for an exciting contest
Stakes are high for parties and candidates in fray in seven seats; issues such as screening of The Kerala Story dominate the political discourse
entral Kerala is witnessing some exciting political contests as electioneering has entered the nal phase in the State.
Stakes are high for political parties as well as candidates in the fray in the seven Lok Sabha constituencies in the central Kerala region. Issues ranging from alleged instances of ‘love jihad’ and the screening of the controversial movie The Kerala Story on Doordarshan and later for catechism students by the Idukki diocese of the Syro-Malabar Church to human-wildlife con icts and anti-incumbency factor have dominated the electioneering scene in the run-up to the polls.
Even while drawing allround political criticism, the screening of The Kerala Story exposed deep division on the sensitive issue of alleged conversions through love marriages among various Christian denominations.
Apart from political parties such as the Congress and the CPI(M), Latin Catholic and Marthoma churches too vociferously slammed the movie screening as they apprehended that such acts would destroy the social fabric of the State, besides endangering its secular credentials.
The timing of the movie screening also came under
Cre. However, the Sangh Parivar aliates were quick to support the SyroMalabar Church and asserted that the movie re
ected the current situation in Kerala.
Key candidates
The Congress is going the extra mile to secure the popular mandate of its heavyweight candidates, especially All India Congress Committee general secretary K.C. Venugopal (Alappuzha), and Kodikunnil Suresh (Mavelikara). The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is also pulling out all the stops for its candidate, Suresh Gopi, in Thrissur.
The CPI(M) is also keen to return A.M. Arif, the only party representative from Kerala in the outgoing House, to tje Lok Sabha from Alappuzha, where the BJP has projected its candidate Shobha Surendran as a future Union Minister.
The BJP has adopted a similar strategy in Thrissur for Mr. Gopi with a message to the voters that the Prime Minister hopes to see Mr. Gopi in the Lower House. However, Congress insiders believe that astute politician K. Muraleedharan would upset the hopes of LDF candidate V.S. Sunilkumar, and Mr. Gopi alike with a convincing margin. The controversies connected to the conduct of Thrissur Pooram also gave enough ammunition to the raging political debate in the constituency.
In Thrissur, the Congress took the political risk of replacing its sitting MP T. N. Prathapan and shifting Mr. Muraleedharan from Vadakara to the constituency.
In Mavelikara, while Mr. Suresh, one of the longest serving Congress members in the Lok Sabha, hopes to cash in on the anti-government sentiments at both the State and the Centre, C.A. Arunkumar, the young CPI leader, feels that anti-incumbency factor would work against Mr. Suresh.