Kottayam: The September 5 bypoll in Puthuppally, necessitated by the demise of Oommen Chandy, has turned out to be an altogether different experience for the Congress unit in the constituency which has never been much concerned about assembly poll outcomes for decades. The centralised election war room, prolonged planning, scheduled squad works, inflow of party workers from other districts – all these look strange to the Congress unit of Puthuppally which has been used to the electioneering of Oommen Chandy’s times which had a signature of the veteran in it. It was chaotic.
Oommen Chandy used to manage his elections on his own ever since he grew up to be the face of Puthuppally and a decisive voice within the Congress in Kerala. He was least bothered about the organised election work like what his party is trying to do now when his son Chandy Oommen is contesting the bypoll. The party workers, sure about the victory of their leader, remained complacent too.
However, the bypoll, which is politically crucial as the Left front would go to any extent to defeat Chandy Oommen and breach the Oommen Chandy fort which stood between it and the people of Puthuppally for 53 years, has forced the Congress to force itself out of the vortex of complacency.
“When Oommen Chandy Sir was the candidate, electioneering meant eight meetings. He would find sometime amid his statewide schedule to reach Puthuppally and organise one meeting each in all eight panchayats. People would gather in large numbers in the meetings and he would address them and interact with them. Food, often with beef, will also be served there,” a local Congress leader remembered as Onmanorama met him during the bypoll works. He termed it the “Oommen Chandy system” of election campaign.
Usual election works like door-to-door canvassing and distribution of campaign materials were often not done promptly when Oommen Chandy contested. Neither him nor party workers found it necessary.
“This is a new election experience for many here. For instance, the first round of door-to-door squad work was done on last weekend. Printed materials for the same were ready on Thursday itself. Now, we have already dispatched the materials for the second round of squad work which will take place on this Saturday and Sunday,” Eugene Thomas, District Congress Committee general secretary, told Onmanorama.
The Congress state unit had taken the initiative to reorganise all the 182 booth committees – the smallest party units in Congress hierarchy – even before the bypoll was announced. Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan had called two closed-door meetings of the party – one at DCC office and the second at a popular restaurant – to discuss the preparedness for the bypoll.
The party has scheduled four rounds of door-to-door campaigns, each covering all the households in the constituency, this time. Each round will be followed up by a review meeting. Three shadow teams have also been assigned to ensure that the party workers cover the areas assigned to them for the door-to-door campaign. This was unheard of in “the Oommen Chandy system”.
“Oommen Chandy used to have his own local intelligence. They would alert him if election work was too dull in an area,” the local leader said.
When Oommen Chandy contested the elections, there was no question of party workers from other districts campaigning in Puthuppally. For the bypoll, the party would be deploying workers from other districts also for door-to-door campaigns. A team of Ernakulam DCC will be on the ground this weekend.
This “external intervention”, meanwhile, has created mild tension among the party workers. “I came here all packed to camp and work for Chandy Oommen. But the attitude of some of the local leaders is that they don’t want anyone from outside here,” a young leader from a neighbouring district complained to Onmanorama.
A Kottayam DCC functionary acknowledged that the ego tussle exists. “The Congress workers of Puthuppally had a special bonding with Oommen Chandy. Sir, despite being a leader of such tall stature, used to treat them equally. Hence, they wouldn’t entertain it if they feel like someone from outside, no matter what their status is in the party structure, is bossing around. We have conveyed this situation to those coming from other districts,” the leader said.
