With just under six weeks left for the D-Day – April 26 when the Kerala electorate queues up to cast their vote – it could well be the anti-incumbency factor of the Pinarayi Vijayan government that could be the most discussed campaign point by the Congress-led UDF and the BJP-led NDA.
However, for the CPI-M-led Left, it could well be what they did in the past nearly eight years in office, that will be their highlight.
Kerala has 20 seats and in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Congress-led UDF won 19, CPI-M-led Left won just one seat, and BJP-led NDA only managed to finish in second place in one and a distant third in the remaining seats.
For the 2019 polls, UDF won with 47.48 per cent, Left with 36.29 per cent and NDA had 15.64 per cent votes.
With the Left being the first to hit the campaign and announce their candidates first -- UDF soon followed while NDA is yet to announce their candidates in four more constituencies -- the biggest impediment is certainly going to be the sweltering heat, and according to CPI Secretary and Rajya Sabha member Binoy Viswam, the heat is such that campaigning between 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. is a tough ask for those who are on the road.
Meanwhile, CPI-M Secretary M. V. Govindan and Viswam have already agreed that the key campaign point is the performance of the Vijayan government.
And quick to latch on it has been the Congress President and Kannur Lok Sabha sitting member, K. Sudhakaran who is defending his seat. He said that the inept governance of Vijayan is going to be their biggest advantage.
“The years of corrupt and inefficient rule of Vijayan is going to be discussed and we will educate voters on why there is a need for people to vote for the Congress-led UDF candidates. Moreover, by now, many have realised that all efforts have to be there to stop the Modi government from going forward,” said Sudhakaran.
Even though the Left was the first to hit the campaign, a faux pas by its veteran former CPI-M legislator and Convener of LDF, E. P. Jayarajan, who said the fight in the state is between the Left and BJP, has left them reeling and by now, all including Vijayan, Govindan and CPI have denied it. They say the fight is between the Left and UDF.
Though BJP doesn’t even have a single legislator in the 140-member Kerala Assembly, they are banking on the upcoming visit of Modi and its star campaigners as they feel the lotus will bloom and have placed high hopes at Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and perhaps even at Palakkad.
Senior BJP MP and in-charge of Kerala, Prakash Javadekar said that this time, they are going to make a difference in Kerala politics with this election.
“A big churning in the minds of Kerala voters is visible. In 2019, they were made to believe that Rahul Gandhi will become Prime Minister. This time, everybody including the Congress leaders are sure that he has no chance of becoming the PM and voters knows that Narendra Modi will get third term,” said Javadekar.
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