Thrissur: The ‘singing sensation,’ Ramya Haridas of the UDF, has fired up the poll scene in Alathur, the reserved constituency, where two-time sitting MP P.K. Biju of the CPM was hoping to repeat his feat. He may find the going tough with Ramya capturing the imagination of the youths with her talents in singing and speaking.
Ramya, who has done her B.A. in music, hails from Kozhikode where she is the block panchayat president in her home town of Kunnamangalam.
Ramya sings a few lines from folk or patriotic songs at all her meetings as demanded by her admirers. She comes from a poor family and lives in a small house built with the aid from a government housing scheme four years ago. Prior to that, they were living in a hut. Her father is a daily wage worker and mother a state-level functionary of Mahila (Women’s) Congress. Right from her childhood she was associated with Jawahar Balajana Vedi, KSU and Youth Congress. She was the star contestant in music and dance events at district and state youth festivals during her school and college days.
The turning point in her life came when she was picked up by Rahul Gandhi in the talent hunt conducted by the party among the youth six years ago. Unlike the other women candidates fielded by Congress in the segment, she has worked extensively in public as a functionary of Ekatha Parishad that follows Gandhian principles and was involved in various welfare activities at Attapadi and Nilambur for tribals.
In 2009, Congress candidate and former Merchant Navy officer N.K. Sudheer was defeated by P.K. Biju by a margin of 20,960 votes. He improved his margin in 2014 to 37,312 and defeated K.A. Sheeba of the Congress.
Biju is confident of a comfortable win this time too. “We are not paying any heed to the so-called hype created by the UDF candidate,” he said. DCC functionary and her media manager N.R. Satheesh said, “if she has talent in singing and the people want her to sing a few lines at meetings, there is nothing wrong in her expressing her creativity. The rest we are leaving to voters,” he said.
The NDA has fielded BDJS leader T.V. Babu and a veteran of the KPMS faction. He was earlier a CPI leader in the coastal region of Nattika in Thrissur. In 2014, the NDA had polled nearly 90,000 votes which rose to 1.4 lakh in the last Assembly polls. According to his campaign managers, the NDA votes would become a key factor in Alathur which comprises 4 Assembly seats in Palakkad and 3 in Thrissur.
