The election fever is just about setting in. Prime Minister Narendra Modi- BJP’s lead campaigner- is criss-crossing the country. He spent the Sunday addressing election rallies in Bihar’s Nawada and West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri, capping it with a road show in Jabalpur. On Monday, he is addressing rallies in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. Broadly there are three common themes he is touching upon in his elections meetings -- his government’s welfare schemes, corruption in opposition ruled states & the past governments in centre and third Ram Temple giving his government credit for its construction and blaming the opposition for blocking it for so long.
But Mr. Modi is not alone in this campaign trail. BSP supremo Mayawati’s scion Akash Anand hit the ground running addressing his debut public meeting after he was nominated as her heir. All the other parties have been clocking in their fair share of miles-- and we shall not get into those details.
In Jalpaiguri, on Sunday, when PM Modi called out the West Bengal government, for the alleged attack on NIA team in Medinipur. The team was there to arrest the accused in connection to 2022 explosion. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hit back, saying now NIA will investigate even if a cracker goes off.
But the INDIA bloc doesn’t really need any crackers-- it seems to be equipped with a self-combustible button. The alliance talks broke down in Kashmir valley. On Sunday Peoples Democratic Party released a list of candidates for all the three Lok Sabha seats here- with party president Mehboob Mufti announcing her candidature from Anantnag Rajouri Seat. This looks like another interesting contest on cards.
But, today on our agenda is the nail biting contest of Thiruvananthapuram. Before we get into the rough and tumble of the electoral contest- let me treat you to a little slice of history- Among the 499 seats in the first Lok Sabha, there were only 22 women. One of them was Annie Mascarene- the first . She was also among the 15 women who were in the Constituent Assembly.
Now, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has already broken the record of longest serving member of Parliament from here and is now seeking to make a new one. He faces two challengers- union minister and BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar and CPI’s Panniyan Ravindran. Will Mr. Tharoor, win a fourth term? Or will the BJP manage to break the jinx of coming close and yet being too far? And will CPI find its footing again?
To answer all these questions we are joined by my colleague Sarath Babu George from our Kerala bureau. This is the second consecutive election that Sarath is covering for us from Thiruvananthapuram.
Script and presentation: Sobhana K. Nair
Production: Shibu Narayan
