Palakkad: Every political party has its icons in Palakkad district. The district was represented by veteran communists like AKG, EMS, E K Nayanar and V S Achuthanandan. The Congress and the Muslim League had its fair share of victories too. Now, it is a focus area for the BJP looking to expand its footprint in Kerala.
The Left Democratic Front won nine of the 12 assembly constituencies in the district in 2016. While the United Democratic Front won the other three, the BJP finished as runner-up in Malampuzha and Palakkad segments.
The fortunes changed in the Lok Sabha election of 2019, when the Congress and the Muslim League swept the district. Going by the voting pattern of 2019, the UDF has an upper hand in eight assembly segments.
A year later, the LDF reasserted its dominance in politics with impressive victories in the local self-government bodies in the district.
All eyes are on Palakkad and Thrithala, represented by vocal young Congress leaders in the legislative assembly. Both of them have strong challengers this time.
Shafi Parambil in Palakkad faces a surprise candidate from the BJP. ‘Metroman’ E Sreedharan is the BJP’s newfound celebrity here. The party had finished second in Palakkad last time. The CPM wants to reclaim its support base in Palakkad and it has fielded C P Pramod, an advocate.
The CPM also wants to win back Trithala from V T Balram. Former MP Rajesh is a formidable candidate. The party won’t settle for anything less than a victory in Trithala. The BJP candidate is Shanku T Das.
In Ottappalam, the Congress has relied on a former civil service officer to challenge the CPM. Dr P Sarin takes on CPM’s new candidate K Prem Kumar, district president of the Sports Council.
March left
The CPM faced a mini revolt in Tarur after minister A K Balan’s wife’s name was proposed as his political heir. The move in favour of Dr P K Jameela led to a protest as manifested in posters near party offices in Tarur and Palakkad. The protest, however, seems to be contained.
Though Palakkad has a reputation as a Left-leaning district, the LDF is still reeling from the shocking loss of the Palakkad and Alathur Lok Sabha constituencies. The local body elections came as a morale booster.
K D Prasenan in Alathur and K Babu in Nenmara are the only legislators seeking another term. A K Balan in Tarur, P Unni in Ottappalam and P K Sasi in Shornur are not in the fray this time though they are the current representatives. In Kongad, former district panchayat president K Santhakumari has been chosen by the party as a successor to K V Vijayadas, who died before completing his term as MLA.
P P Sumod will contest as the CPM candidate from Tarur and P Mammikkutty from Shornur.
The most notable absence in the district, however, is V S Achuthanandan, who won from Malampuzha for four straight terms. His successor is A Prabhakaran, who was tipped to be the party candidate when Achuthanandan seemed to be out of the fray due to the factional feuds in the party.
In Pattambi, CPI’s sitting MLA Muhammed Muhsin is seeking another term. Party district secretary Suresh Raj is facing the voters in Mannarkad. Minister Krishnan Kutty is a candidate in Chittoor.
UDF line-up
Though the UDF went through a power tussle related to the selection of candidates, they have managed to put up an impressive line-up. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s road show has energised the campaign.
The UDF is still jubilant in the general election victories in the Left strongholds of Palakkad and Alathur. The Youth Congress is in near-total control of the district. State president Shafi Parambil is contesting from Palakkad, general secretary P Sarin from Ottappalam, vice president Riyas Mukkoli from Pattambi and district president T H Firoz Babu from Shornur.
Sumesh Achuthan is the UDF candidate in Chittoor, Palayam Pradeep in Alathur, S K Anantha Krishnan in Malampuzha and K A Sheeba in Tarur.
Though the Congress got to contest from Alathur, where ally Kerala Congress contested last time, it had to give up its claim on Nenmara to the CMP. The CMP has put up C N Vijayakrishnan, who comes with a track record in the cooperative sector.
The Muslim League has taken over Kongad from the Congress and fielded former MLA U C Raman. Muslim League’s N Shamsuddin is seeking another term from Mannarkad.
BJP hopes
The BJP considers Palakkad its most valuable district. The party finished second in Malampuzha and Palakkad in the previous election. The gains were consolidated in the local self-government body elections when the party managed to sit in the councils as the main opposition.
Party workers were energised by the visits of prime minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah.
The BJP is eyeing the swing voters. The candidature of E Sreedharan in Palakkad is highlighted. The party controls the municipal council in Palakkad.
The party has fielded C Krishna Kumar in Malampuzha, Sandeep Warrier in Shornur and Shanku T Das in Trithala. V Natesan contests from Chittoor, Prashanth Sivan from Alathur, K M Haridas from Pattambi, P Venugopal from Ottappalam, M Suresh Babu from Kongad and K P Jayaprakash from Tarur.
Ally Bharat Dharma Jana Sena contests from Alathur. A N Anurag became the candidate after he went to the Supreme Court to get a high court order overturned. The high court had ruled that teachers of government-aided schools cannot contest the elections.
In Mannarkad, the BJP has allocated the seat to ally AIADMK, which fielded Naseema Sharafuddin as the NDA candidate.
