Straight bat: Poll scene lacks get-up-and-go mood

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: More than a month after schedule was announced on March 4, the State poll scene lacks the get-up-and-go mood. Rebel trouble stares at the UDF in a few pockets while the Left cadre are slow to warm up to the prospect of a change of regime, given the State’s history of alternating governance.

Weather is playing spoilsport. The long haul to D day, stretching up to May 16, and the count on May 19, could be a spoiler because no party can sustain the campaign tempo.     Reports suggest that even Dharmadom, where CPM politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan is the frontrunner, is on a limp. Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan senses fresh trouble in Malampuzha and prefers to spend more time there though he will address at least three meetings in each district.         

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, the chief UDF campaigner, is busy sorting out issues. Congress Working Committee member A K Antony’s homilies on the unity theme have not yet sunk in. He knows only too well the mischief group politics can do to scuttle the UDF prospects.

The tussle between Mr Chandy and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, who believes he should be projected as the CM candidate, is perhaps the reason for the lack of enthusiasm on the part of Congress workers. Mr Antony is scared this might result in the cadre working at cross purposes.

Like the LDF, the UDF’s major weakness is the lack of clarity on the CM candidate. The fortunes of either front depend on it. The elections are yet to display an overriding sentiment, which usually determines the campaign tempo and serves as the clincher. This situation, some say, will engender constituency-wise preferences, based on credentials of candidates.

Winners will owe their victories to their own personalities than the party label.
CPM cadre are still not sure whether it will be Mr Achuthanandan for yet another term. Mr Vijayan, the other claimant to the party’s mandate, shows signs of impatience. There have been two recent instances when he got annoyed with the media, in a clear departure from makeover efforts launched a few weeks ago.

The UDF may ride out the sex and sleaze allegations and Mr Chandy’s big ticket projects might help him get even with detractors. But the perception in some quarters of the Christian-Muslim dominance over the Government past five years is bad news for the UDF. Even Muslim League leaders, who argue that it is a ploy, admit in private that the perception has gained ground. They feel the LDF would subtly use it to electoral advantage.

The National Democratic Alliance is also still in doldrums despite its national leaders’ efforts to cement a winning combination of BJP and pro-Ezhava Bharat Dharma Jana Sena. Commentators believe that the BJP would have been better off without BDJS, whose electoral clout is limited to a few pockets as evident in the recent civic polls.

All three fronts have reserved their resources for the final push. Scattered graffiti, scarce mike address, few roadside meetings and sluggish door-to-door campaigns lent the impression that the weary cadre are waiting for the final whistle.