Thiruvananthapuram holds its breath as stars fight

Thiruvananthapuram: LDF candidate Antony Raju, who was until recently in the UDF camp belittles the Congress sitting MLA in Thiruvananthapuram, V. S. Sivakumar by saying, the contest is going to be between the LDF and BJP.

Cricketer S. Sreesanth is going to debut in a new turf and is slated to be one of the most keenly watched star constituencies in the state. In the 2011 assembly elections, the Congress party won this seat by a margin of 5,352 votes. With 49,122 votes (45.87 %), Sivakumar defeated LDF’s V. Surendran Pillai (40.87%) who belonged to Kerala Congress (Anti-merger group) party. BJP’s B. K. Shekhar, who is no more, had polled 11, 519 votes with 10.76 percentage of the total votes polled.

But ever since the BJP came to power at the Centre, there has been a tilt in its favour which saw them amassing 34 seats in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. Here the BJP has emerged as the second large party, pushing the UDF to the third place which came as a rude shock to Sivakumar.

But Sivakumar has the strong backing of the NSS general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair and his group leader, Ramesh Chennithala. “I am confident that I have put up a formidable force in the constituency since the last five years on par with five decades of development. It was during my tenure that Vizhinjam International Transshpment Terminal, Karamana – Kaliyikkavila road stretch, coastal areas have been converted to a city like centre with an engineering college, a nursing college, IGNOU centre and several housing schemes,” he told DC.

Mr Raju has always contested with the backing of the LDF previously, in 1991, 1996 and 2001, from here. In 1996, it was LDF’s first victory when won from Thiruvananthapuram West. Sreesanth is currently in Mumbai and is expected to land in the constituency in two to three days time with much fanfare.

With star campaigner Suresh Gopi expected to campaign for him, BJP camp is upbeat. “BJP has been very supportive towards me. There has been development in Kerala but not huge development, youngsters should come forward and start a change,” said Sreesanth.