Kottayam: The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala is all set to deploy its ministers in the Pinarayi Vijayan-led cabinet for the campaign front in Puthuppally where a bypoll is scheduled for September 5.
At least 13 ministers, apart from the chief minister, will hit the campaign trail in Puthuppally in the coming days. The party has included the ministers in the campaign schedule amid opposition United Democratic Front’s (UDF) criticism that the Left was shying away from fielding ministers for electioneering fearing public anger over a series of issues including corruption allegations, price rise and tax hike.
The CPM-led LDF has fielded young leader Jaick C Thomas in Puthuppally while the Congress-led UDF’s candidate is Chandy Oommen, son of former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy whose death necessitated the bypoll.
Chief Minister Pinarayi will address election rallies in the constituency on three days while his cabinet colleagues will be on the campaign front from August 23 to September 2, senior CPM leader and cooperation minister V N Vasavan said. The party has divided the eight panchayats in the constituency to 21 zones for convenience of campaigning and ministers will be deployed in each zone.
CPM ministers P Rajeeve, K Radhakrishnan, K N Balagopal, Veena George, P A Mohammed Riyas, M B Rajesh and Saji Cheriyan, CPI’s P Prasad, Kerala Congress (M)’s Roshy Augustine, NCP’s A K Saseendran and Kerala Congress (Democratic)’s Antony Raju are among those who have been assigned to address public meetings as part of the bypoll campaign. Vasavan who hails from Pampady in Puthuppally constituency, has been camping in the area and overseeing the election campaign.
The CPM had deployed most of its ministers for the bypoll campaign in Thrikkakara constituency in Ernakulam. However, it did not yield the desired result for the party. In Thrikkakara, ministers and MLAs from other districts were even assigned to do door-to-door campaign or squad work. The LDF is not keen to replicate that model in Puthuppally.
“In Thrikkakara we made a mistake by making ministers do door-to-door campaign. The ministers amid hectic schedules could not go to all houses in an area which created discontentment among households which were not visited by them. It kind of backlashed. So we don’t want such a situation arise in Puthuppally. Here ministers will address public meetings and family gatherings,” a leader of an LDF ally involved in finalising the campaign schedules told Onmanorama.
A district-level CPM leader also confirmed the move. He said the party state leadership has advised the district unit not to go for a campaign blitzkrieg in Puthuppally which the party does often. “We have been told we don’t want the typical LDF style of campaign this time. Instead, we are focussing on a silent campaign aimed at turning the political narative in favour of us, slowly and steadily. We have started to see changes in public perception,” the leader told Onmanorama.
The LDF is trying to set the poll narrative around a pro-development pitch. Their allegation is that Oommen Chandy, despite representing the constituency for a record 53 years, ignored the infrastructure development of the region. The Left front is organising a Vikasana Sandesha Yatra (March with message of development) in Puthuppally on August 20, Saturday. Former Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac will inaugurate the march. At the rally, he will release a document detailing LDF’s vision for the development of Puthuppally.
On August 22, the LDF will organise a women’s assembly in the constituency. CPM politburo member Subhashini Ali will inaugurate the meet.
