Kochi: “He hasn’t stolen people’s money. He hasn’t cheated people, he is involved in no sex scandal. If the bar lords lost money, it’s their problem, not mine.” That’s Shuddhan, a rare name at that, of Tripunithura constituency in Ernakulam district has to say about Excise Minister K. Babu who is fighting with his back to the wall to register his sixth consecutive victory from the capital of the erstwhile Cochin royalty.
A Babu loyalist, Mr Suddhan worries more about the number of votes BJP candidate Prof. Thuravoor Vishvambharan will score in the constituency than the impact of the allegations of corruption the minister is facing. The campaign of one of the respected scholars in the Sangh Parivar has picked up in the last leg after lagging in the early periods Mr Shudhan says the BJP’s growth has resulted in the LDF retaining the municipality, he pointed out.
And that’s what the BJP is aiming at, too. “The BJP expects to score about 25,000 votes,” said a Parivar ideologue. “The RSS has taken charge of the campaign at the grassroot level and it will allow no hanky-panky. Every vote that is due to Prof. Vishvamb-haran will be polled.”
That’s what the LDF is looking for, too. The Left has drafted its youth leader M Swaraj to recapture the traditionally left-dominated constituency it lost to a young Mr Babu 25 years ago. “We get the best response in recent times,” said CPM area secretary Mr C. N. Sundaran, “people who never welcomed the LDF have now started changing their attitude.” He indicates the shift in stand of the minorities, which the LDF hopes will offset the loss due to emergence of BDJS.
