Wayanad unaffected by poll heat

KALPETTA: The election heat has not yet reached the  hill district of Wayanad where both the political fronts are going slow.  There is no fighting  for seats in the UDF camp here unlike in other parts of the state.   Among the three constituencies, Mananthaadi and Sulthan Bathery are reserved for scheduled tribes and  Kalpetta is the sitting seat of JD(U) leader M.V. Shreyamskumar,  where he will try his luck again.  

DCC president K.L. Poulose said that the DCC office was facing no problems as there was no lobbying by pressure groups for seats. Mr Poulose said that “if things go like this,   the Congress  would be  crippled with no seats to contest. The lone general seat has been given to JD(U) on a platter.  Realising this,  IUML has been fielding its prominent local leaders  C. Mammootty (Tirur- Malappuram) and K.M. Shaji (Azhikkode- Kannur) from  other districts,”  he pointed out.

The two MLAs from the reserved seats,  P.K. Jayalakshmi, minister,  and I.C. Balakrishnan are popular and therefore the LDF is struggling to find suitable candidates  against them. The CPM also does  not expect a miracle in these constituencies. But in Kalpetta, the  party feels that  if CPM district secretary C.K. Saseendran contests, he would have a good chance against  Mr Shreyamskumar.   

Kalpetta is the home turf of socialist patriarch M.P. Veerendrakumar and it may  be tough to defeat his son Shreyams. But CPM feels that the clean image of Mr Saseendran would help it garner a good number of votes from the plantation workers  who constitute a major share of voters.   However,  Mr Saseenran  told DC that his candidature was  yet to be decided by the party. “We would finalise the list by March 13,”  he added.