Democratic Development Front may dampen Congress dreams in Thrikaripur

KOZHIKODE: Congress's hope to wrest the Trikaripur seat is being met with stiff resistance in the form of Democratic Development Front (DDF) in East Eleri gram panchayat. The splinter group of Congress workers was formed just before the previous local body polls. It garnered 10 of the 16 seats in East Eleri panchayat pushing the Congress into just one seat.

Congress has been ruling East Eleri since the formation of the panchayat.
Now, DDF has decided to field its chair James Pandamakkal as the candidate in Trikaripur seat, creating more trouble for Congress. “The party had decided my candidature. We are not against Congress but want to convey a message to the state leadership, especially to KPCC President V.M. Sudheeran,” Mr Pandamakkal told DC.

He was ousted from the party last year following the submission of a report by former Kannur DCC president P. Ramakrishnan. “There were 14 charges against me which all are nonsense. My appeal to the party leadership is to conduct an impartial inquiry on a few of them and come out with the truth. But they did not give me a hearing,” he said. His ouster triggered the local Congressmen to float DDF.

Mr Pandamakkan says he became a scapegoat because of his reluctance to dance to the tunes of Mr Sudheeran. Except Kayyur-Cheemeni, Pilicode and Cheruvathur grama panchayats, there is no such red fortress in the constituency and UDF could wrest the seat if they put up a concerted effort.

Last time, K. Kunhiraman of CPM had won here by a margin of 8,765 votes.
“Congress can overcome the challenges posed by DDF.,” Kasargod DCC president C.K. Sreedharan said. KPCC general secretary K.P. Kunhikannan is pitted against CPM’s M. Rajagopalan here.