LDF set to draw on drift in UDF camp
CPM has organised small corner meetings in its pockets to seek votes.
KOZHIKODE: CPM leader George M. Thomas is a confident man this time at Thiruvambadi, the long-time UDF citadel. The campaign is at its peak in the constituency where CPM has activated its entire party machinery smelling a rift in the UDF camp over the failure of the IUML in returning the seat to Congress. But UDF candidate CM Ummer is unperturbed as the communal arithmetic (more than 40 percent Muslim population) and the tradition of the constituency is in favour of the front.
Mr Thomas had won the seat for LDF in the by-election in 2006 after the demise of then sitting MLA Mathai Chacko for a margin of 246 votes. When DC met George M Thomas at Malamkunnu near Mukkam, Karassery, he was amidst a group of children. This soft-spoken comrade has not at all antagonised the church and is also known for his accessibility and unbiased manners. Small sentences, witty conversational style and it would be hard to trace him in the crowd except those garlands around his neck.
CPM has organised small corner meetings in its pockets to seek votes while it depends on ‘house to house’ campaigns in the UDF pockets. Once back into the cool of his campaign vehicle, he opens up his mind, saying, it is a UDF bastion.
“We have no tall claims but this time, there is an urge for a change.
Only once Mathai Chacko ensured victory from this citadel. Referring to the controversy regarding the demand of church to return the seat to Congress, he said a large section of Congress workers among Christian settlers were unhappy in the way a section in IUML grabbed off the fruits of governance and the way they treated the church authorities. “Since 1987 there has been no Congress candidate from the constituency," he adds.
The otherwise vocal shepherds of the church and its agrarian arms are this time silent. Another crucial factor is the stand of thousands of AP Sunni faction, the followers of Kanthapuram AP Abubacker Musaliyar in the contest, who have already started a campaign against the IUML. “We have a strong ten thousand members in the constituency and we hope at least five thousand of them would vote against the IUML this time,” said a follower of Kanthapuram.
But Mr Ummer is unperturbed. Known as a gentleman politician in UDF circles, this former teacher is on a steady campaign in the constituency. Dismissing the reports of protest against UDF, Mr Ummer said that all these issues were already sorted out.
But there is a vigil among poll managers of the UDF. Wherever necessary, the candidate was asked to go for a house to house campaign and the IUML cadres at the local level were asked to have an eye on the Congress leaders from Christian community. Giri Pambanal is the NDA candidate.