Close fight in Attingal as candidates roll out their development planks
Amid the crowded streets near Kallara Junction in the Attingal constituency stood a large group of headload workers and youngsters sporting “The Joy of Attingal” Tshirts and some women, braving the scorching sun.
As Left Democratic Front candidate V.Joy 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.
“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 the Congress to the BJP and sitting MP and United Democratic Front candidate Adoor Prakash’s performance. “Things are different this time. Factors which favoured the Congress last time will not work now,” says Bhaskaran, a Kallara resident, a claim which is echoed by Mr.Joy too.
‘LDF vs UDF’
But, Mr.Joy and Mr.Prakash echo each other when they say that the “fight is between LDF and UDF”.
At Chempoor, Mr.Prakash is involved in a much quieter but personal campaign, going around shops and requesting for votes. His achievements over the past five years are announced loudly from a vehicle which is part of the entourage.
“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 Sidharthan, who fell victim to such politics, is located here,” said Mr.Prakash.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate and Union Minister of State for External Affairs V.Muraleedharan 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.