Thiruvananthapuram: Cruel summer beats down hillocks and vales on either side of the MC Road from Pathanapuram to Konni to Aranmula even as candidates and supporters sweat it out to stick to the schedule, mainly family get-togethers and house-to-house campaigns, for the Assembly election on May 16.
P V Jagadeesh Kumar, the popular Jagadeesh, raced down, accompanied by lusty Congressmen, to the block office at Pathanapuram to file his papers. Main rival K B Ganesh Kumar, a companion of several popular slapsticks on the celluloid, was away in Kochi, attending to a court case.
Jagadeesh filed papers, shook hands with staff at the block office and chatted with all around. He smelt victory in his debut bid to the Assembly because “Congressmen are united as never before”. He took time off to address a small group of reporters from English newspapers, as if proving a point that he is at home in both languages. Perhaps a reiteration of his academic credentials. He had first rank in MCom and was a college lecturer before taking to acting for a career. Bheeman Reghu, the BJP candidate, flexed his muscles on posters beside roads from Anchal to Pathanapuram.
“There will be no star wars here. I don’t intend to parade my friends in the film industry to match the might of Ganesh. I don’t believe in hi-tech because my voters are more rural than urban. Ganesh had said certain uncharitable comments about me, I do not want to respond in kind”.
On the phone, Ganesh told DC that the biggest lie the rival camp sought to spread against him was his imminent crossover to the BJP. “This allegation has been with me since by debut contest. People will judge me by three-term service. Some accuse of me of bearing witness at a Bible convention. The very same people allege I am turning BJP”, wondered Ganesh.
The drama, rather the anticlimax, of the day was KPCC president V M Sudheeran in Konni, drumming up support for Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash, whose candidature he sought to block during the five days of discussions with the high command in Delhi. Voters thought he would rationalize on his strange behavior, but Sudheeran spoke for 15 minutes against the BJP threat and the rest 10 minutes on the hefty development initiatives of Chief Minister Ooomen Chandy.
Says Prakash: “There is a perception about our president’s stand. But I do not bank on negatives. I have completed meetings of all 190 polling booth committees. Now it’s hop on to an open vehicle, the rest will come my way”.
But Anil Kumar, the CPM candidate, believes the people of Konni would resolve an issue- keeping out Prakash- which Sudheeran and the high command could not clinch.
The icing on the poll debate was the meet-the-candidates programme at Pathanamthitta Press Club, where Congress sitting MLA, K Sivadasan Nair, reiterated his support for an airport at the current site on the fallow stretch at Aranmula. Rival candidate Veena George, who had quizzed Mr Nair on the green filed airport proposal, also said, Pathanamthitta needs an airport, though the precise location is yet to be identified. BJP’s M T Ramesh was in no mood for a compromise: “This land needs no airport as it has been proposed”.
All major contestants are sure their respective fronts will come to power soon.
