Fronts feel BJP-SNDP pact is non-starter, sit at ease

Kochi: Even while conceding that the electoral alliance between BJP and the SNDP Yogam will take away a share of their votes in the local body elections, both the United Democratic Front and the Left Democratic Front take comfort from the assumption that the alliance has not taken off at the grassroots level.

The BJP-SNDP alliance which claimed to avenge the ‘sense of neglect’ of the majority community made some impact but failed to sustain the momentum while the polls neared.

While the events of intolerance across the nation took the winds out of the BJP sails, the barrage of allegations opposition leader V.S. Achuthanandan unleashed put SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan on the defensive. The two developments together impacted the new entity’s ability to undermine the other two established fronts.

A senior CPM leader told DC that the alliance will have an impact on the party’s vote share but the damage will be contained. “Except in its strong holds, the BJP is unlikely to make electoral headway despite the h-elp from SNDP,” he said.

The rising tide of intolerance has had a pronounced impact on the Kerala psyche and it has helped the LDF in three ways, he said. “The first is that it stopped the BJP from gaining more popularity in the state,” he said.

“It gave the minorities an impression that only the Left is there to oppose the RSS, and this realisation will more than help us off-set our loss in terms of votes. And one of the biggest impact was that the Left intelligentsia, which had kept a distance from the CPM for some time now, is now not openly hostile to it. In fact, they are silently with us.”