Kottayam: Former Chief Minister and Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy was a politician who was least bothered about branding himself, his son Chandy Oommen is of the view.
Chandy, who is contesting as the Congress-led UDF candidate in the Puthuppally bypoll, said his father considered public service as duty and did not find it necessary to publicise what he did. He spoke to Onmanorama on Sunday amid his busy campaigning schedule for the September 5 bypoll.
“Who will publicise the duties they carry out?” the young leader asked while answering a question about rivals LDF and BJP’s allegation that Oommen Chandy did not bring any infrastructure development to the constituency he represented for 53 years at a stretch.
“He was an MLA who developed the infrastructure of the constituency. However, he did not have any branding. He carried out his work as a duty. Nobody would publicise their duties. What he did did not get any publicity. But the reality remains,” he said.
Chandy cited the Virology Institute, School of Medical Education, Ramanujan Institute of Science and Technology and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology in the constituency as examples of development brought by is late father to Puthuppally.
He also listed spinning mills at Amayannur and Meenadom, an industrial park at Poovanthuruth, so as to counter the allegations of his political rivals. “Of course, they may need some upgrading but the institutions are already there,” he said.
He said those who have initiated the debate on development were the same people who obstructed the development of the constituency.
“Look at the K R Narayanan Institute of Visual Science and Arts at Thekkumthala. The foundation stone for that was laid in 2006 during the UDF regime. It took 10 years to inaugurate it. Why? The LDF government that came came after Oommen Chandy government did not allocate any grants. It was the second Oommen Chandy government that completed the works,” he said.
Asked if he had ever thought about contesting from Puthuppally, he said, “never”. “But such a situation has become a reality now,” he said.
To a question on whether he already knew the nook and corners of the constituency, he said: “I have for the past 23 years travelled across Puthuppally. I have even staged street plays here. In all the eight panchayats, I had arranged around 200 mobile phones and tablets for children from poor families to attend online classes during the Covid pandemic.”
On what would be his priority for Puthuppally if he is elected MLA, Chandy said he would start with some facilities for improving sport in the area.
“There must be more development in the constituency. Youth should be involved in it. So, I will start with sports. The rest I will speak about when the right time comes,” he said.
The Congress has been carrying out a more organised election campaign in Puthuppally unlike when Oommen Chandy was the candidate. Asked about the change in the style of electioneering, Chandy said the systematic approach, led by Opposition Leader V D Satheesan, will have a positive outcome.
He said different factors had played a role in the drop in Oommen Chandy’s victory margin in 2021 and that the Congress was focussing on active squad work and door-to-door campaign to ensure maximum votes are polled in favour of its candidate.
Chandy Oommen is facing LDF’s Jaick C Thomas and NDA’s Lijin Lal in the bypoll. The result will be declared on September 8.
