It did not begin well for Dr Jo Joseph, the CPM candidate contesting the May 31 Thrikkakara bypoll. The announcement of his candidature had turned out to be a fiasco hitherto unheard of in the election history of the CPM. Dr Joseph, a cardiologist at the Lissie Hospital in Kochi, was picked by the ruling party as its candidate to the surprise of many, including party cadre. Dr Joseph's name was announced amid widespread reports that young party leader K S Arunkumar would be the party candidate. Some party workers had even started painting walls seeking votes for Arunkumar.
The setting in which Dr Joseph was introduced to the media also triggered a controversy. He came to meet the press wearing his surgical cap and stethoscope. The choice of the hospital run by the Syro Malabar Church as the venue to meet the media and the presence of a priest added to the allegation that he was a nominee of the Church.
Talk did the rounds the CPM picked the doctor to win over the Christian votes in the constituency. Adding to the controversies, a 2020 Facebook post by Dr Joseph resurfaced in which he laments about the sad plight of the Christian youth on many accounts, including the community's losing clout in politics.
Midway through his campaign, Dr Joseph seems to have apparently overcome the initial hazards that bogged his electioneering and even his opponents feel that he has quickly learned the art. He walks and speaks like a politician, full of energy and enthusiasm.
Asked how feels the pulse of Thrikkakara as a cardiologist, pat came the reply. “The pulse of Thrikkakara is with the Left Democratic Front (LDF). It has been raining heavily since the morning, but people from different walks of life and age groups have been waiting for us wherever we go. It shows there's a wave in favour of the Left front in Thrikkakara,” he told Onmanorama from his campaign vehicle, waving at the voters.
Asked what is his foremost identity, a Christian or a Communist, he said he was a “people's person.”
He also did not want to go into the controversies over his Facebook post on the Christian youth. “We are not focusing on controversies. We are focusing only on two things. One is positive politics and then development,” he said.
And what are his promises to Thrikkakara?
“There are a lot of issues to be sorted out in Thrikkakara. They include water woes, issues regarding traffic, and drainage. Solving these will be my topmost priorities,” he said.
He also mentioned the SilverLine project and the extension of Kochi Metro as the issues to be sorted out.
In the Thrikkakara bypoll, Dr Joseph is contesting against Congress' Uma Thomas and BJP's A N Radhakrishnan. Uma is the wife of Congress leader P T Thomas, whose death necessitated the bypoll.
Joseph is confident that he would win the bypoll and take the LDF's tally in the assembly to 100.
The ruling front now has 99 seats in the 140-member assembly.
The LDF machinery is working round the clock in Thrikkakara under the leadership of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan himself. Ministers and MLAs from the ruling front are camping in the constituency to ensure that Dr Joseph wins the Thrikkakara seat, which has elected only Congress MLAs so far. For the Left, it will be nothing less than history if it wins the bypoll.