A virtual VS Achuthanandan-Oommen Chandy faceoff in Aruvikkara

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is directly handling the campaign of the UDF candidate at Aruvikkara, Opposition Leader V. S. Achuthanandan too has started his second round of campaign for the LDF candidate.

With the two top leaders rallying behind K. S. Sabarinathan of the UDF and M. Vijayakumar of the LDF respectively, the campaign scene is hotting up in Aruvikkara with 12 more days left for the bypoll. Chandy will campaign every day in Aruvikkara except on Tuesday as he is holding the last of his mass contact programme at Palakkad.

Before leaving for Palakkad tonight, Chandy concentrated on attending family meetings which witnessed a smaller crowd. Today’s campaign trail of Chandy did not have any public function.

While addressing local people, Chandy stressed only on two things – a brief account of the UDF Government’s four years of achievements and a dig against the Opposition for promoting "politics of violence". 

A top Congress leader told DC that Chandy’s gameplan was to visit every nook and corner of Aruvikkara constituency and meet all the voters.

“Chandy has taken the Aruvikkara by-election as a prestige issue. Everyone knows his close ties with former Speaker G. Karthikeyan and with a by-election due to his untimely demise, Chandy is keen on bagging a victory with a good margin over the LDF candidate”, said the top Congress leader.

Home minister Ramesh Chennithala too was in Aruvikkara on a campaign trail today. Senior Congress leader A. K. Antony too is expected to campaign for Sabarinathan on June 23 and 24.

Meanwhile, LDF’s star campaigner V. S. Achuthanandan is expected to campaign for Vijayakumar for three more days. A party insider told DC that though the CPM was keen on taking him to all the eight panchayats, he reportedly told his close aides that he would campaign for Vijayakumar only in a few.

There are reports that former party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and his successor Kodiyeri Balakrishnan want Achuthanandan to meet as many voters as he can before the next public function on June 23 at Vithura. From Tuesday onwards, Vijayakumar is expected to kick off his vehicle campaign rally from Aruvikkara.