Differences cannot be any starker as the campaign for the Aruvikkara Assembly by-election in Kerala gets into top gear with exactly a week to go for polling. On the one side is Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan with his aggression and firepower, touching upon everything from the solar scam to bar bribery to the BJP’s failure to keep its promise to bring back ill-gotten money stashed away in Swiss banks.
On the other side is Chief Minister Oommen Chandy with his subdued and matter-of-fact speeches, focusing almost entirely on his government’s development initiatives and UDF candidate K.S. Sabarinadhan’s pedigree and, at times, very rarely hurtling towards the ‘bomb politics’ of the CPI(M).
On Saturday, Mr. Chandy was at Vandakkal in Uzhamalakkal panchayat telling a small gathering of farm workers and their families about his government’s efforts to bring in big ticket development projects.
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If Mr. Chandy mostly speaks to small gatherings, Mr. Achuthanandan has been addressing large public meetings, raising the spirits of the Opposition Left Democratic Front cadres, who receive every single one of his thrice-repeated punch lines with loud cheers and claps.