Representative imageWhen the CPM pulled down Kannur corporation deputy mayor C Sameer through a no-confidence motion and replaced him with Congress rebel P K Ragesh on June 30, comrades in Thiruvananthapuram were not amused. A similar tie-up between the Congress and the BJP could unsettle them from the rule of the capital city.
The CPM was waiting for the completion of the mandatory six months to pull down the United Democratic Front nominee in Kannur. What if the BJP plays by the same book in Thiruvananthapuram, top leaders wonder.
Such a move could deprive the party of Thiruvananthapuram corporation and gradually Thrissur, where the Left Democratic Front does not have a clear majority. Such power struggles at the local level could well be the next confrontation in Kerala’s electoral scene. In other words, the LDF cannot be complacent. The ruling coalition could be pulled into action even before the Lok Sabha election of 2019.
The CPM-led coalition has only 43 members in the 100-strong Thiruvananthapuram municipal corporation. Mayor V K Prashanth could be sent out if the BJP, the second-largest party with 35 councilors, agrees with the Congress on a single-point agenda of ousting the LDF. The minority rule could be sustained only because the Congress-led UDF abstained from voting during the civic body’s budget presentation. The front need not follow the same tactics forever.
Kerala is no longer out of the BJP national leadership’s radar. The party made its debut in the Kerala Legislative Assembly by winning the Nemom constituency, which falls under the corporation limits. Party candidates came second in Vattiyoorkavu and Kazhakkoottam. It lost the second slot by a whisker in Thiruvananthapuram, the fourth constituency segment that falls within the corporation limits.
The stress on Thiruvananthapuram was evident in a secretive two-day training camp the BJP organized in the city. This was the beginning or the party’s organized attempt to reach out to the people and create awareness about the achievements of the Narendra Modi government. Experts spoke in detail about the government policies and programs at the meeting.
This model will be extended to the district and constituency levels. Those who have undergone these training will spread the word by convening people’s meetings. This is BJP president Amit Shah’s plan to utilize the power in the center to spread the party’s network.
The party’s national executive is planned to be held in Kozhikode. A section of the leaders also want the city to host the national council as well. It will be a challenge to find a venue that can accommodate about 6,000 delegates.
The stride the party has made in large areas of Kerala has raised many hackles. The state budget presented by Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac was particularly benevolent on Thiruvananthapuram and surroundings, in an apparent bid to preempt the BJP’s rising influence. Minister Kadakampally Surendran has kept his words to the voters of Kazhakkoottam by doling out an array of sops. The CPM knows well that it can retain power in the corporation if it performs in the short while before being pulled down by its opponents.
The BJP would do anything to deprive the LDF a chance to cut inroads into the voters’ minds by focusing on good governance.
In the 55-member corporation in Thrissur, the LDF has 26 councilors and the UDF 23. The BJP has only six members but they can prove crucial in the hung house. The opposition has asked for a vote on at least two occasions but the mayor tactically put those issues in the back burner.
The corporation came to the LDF kitty only because of the overconfidence and squabbles in the UDF camp. The LDF, however, cemented its position in the district with its landslide performance in the assembly election early this year. Still licking its wounds, the Congress may not want to go seek votes anytime sooner.
The BJP, however, is in a different mood. Thrissur has paid them well and they know they have a good chance of replicating their Thiruvananthapuram victory in the city.
