With less than two weeks to go for the byelection in Pala, the candidates in the fray are leaving no stones unturned to reach out to maximum number of voters.
Electioneering is picking up pace even amidst the Onam holidays with the high-decibel campaign becoming the order of the day. Though it may not have much an impact on the current political scenario, winning the seat has indeed become a matter of prestige for the three major parties.
Giving thrust to the campaign of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Union Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda on Sunday visited the constituency and inaugurated the election convention for N. Hari, the BJP Candidate. Various State-level leaders of the party, including its State unit president P.S. Sreedharan Pillai and star campaigner K. Surendran, have been camping here to coordinate strategies.
According to the BJP camp, a few more national-level leaders are set to join the canvassing in the coming days. The schedule of their visits will be finalised after September 12, when the campaign is set to enter the next stage, they said.
As part of the campaign, Mr. Hari visited various eminent personalities in the constituency, including the Bishops of Kanjirappilly and Pala. At the grassroot-level, the party coordinates with the parent organisation, the RSS, to reach out to maximum number of voters through a door-to-door campaign.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF), which regards the byelection as the first real chance to breach the Kerala Congress bastion, has commenced its second lap of campaigning. While its candidate Mani C. Kappan is busy meeting individual voters, the party is making the most of its coalition machinery to expand the electioneering works.
As part of it, a 5,001-member committee led by the senior leaders M.N. Joseph, V.N. Vasavan, Aravindakshan Kanakkari and C.K. Sasidharan has been constituted. Mr. Kappan, who contested from the constituency three times unsucessfully before, counts on his popularity and the raging factional feud within the KC(M) to turn things to his advantage.
The United Democratic Front (UDF), buoyed by its performance in the recent Lok Sabha election, is confident of continuing its winning streak. The initial setbacks in the form of a factional fight within the KC(M) notwithstanding, the coalition hopes on covering the lost ground in the coming days.
Senior Congress leader and Kottayam MLA Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan is tasked with the task of coordinating strategies. KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran and other senior leaders, including Ramesh Chennithala and Oommen Chandy, are also set to visit the constituency in turns.
According to UDF leaders, its candidate Jose Tom Pulikkunnel will enter the next leg of electioneering by embarking on a tour across the constituency.
