Poll scene warms up

By K.M. Thampi

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 18. The election scene in Kerala has slowly started warming up with the settlement of the dispute in the State unit of the Congress(I), at least for the time being, and with the announcement of the second and final list of the BJP both barely hours before the issue of the election notification and the commencement of the filing of nominations.

The stage has now been set for a spark-flying, dust- raising and ear-splitting three-cornered fight in most of the constituencies.

The LDF, led by the CPI(M), released its manifesto, announced its candidates without much ado and launched its campaign towards the end of last month itself. But without any opponent in the ring, it was appearing more like a bout of shadow boxing inspite of its colour, sound and fury.

The coming election is the twelfth to be held in the State though the Assembly which it is to bring into existence will be the eleventh. This is because the election held in 1965 turned out to be abortive with no party or combination getting the majority to form the Government.

The LDF which is in power succeeded in completing the seat- sharing exercise without much hassle this time. As in a previous election or two, the CPI(M) initially made an attempt to appropriate some of the traditional seats of the smaller constituents such as the RSP but backed out when they opposed it strongly and it realised that the move was fraught with danger. With what could have turned out to be a major irritant in the inter-party relations in the front out of the way, the LDF soon managed to hammer out an agreement under which the CPI(M) decided to contest 77 seats leaving 24 to the CPI, 12 to the Janata Dal, 11 to the NCP, 10 to the Kerala Congress(J) and six to the RSP.

The constituents of the LDF, including the CPI(M), however had to face some problems when it came to selection of candidates. The CPI(M) which did not have to hear even a murmur of protest when this time it decided to retire from the electoral scene some 30 sitting MLAs, including all but one of its Ministers, had to face strong opposition from the local unit of the party when it decided to field a CPI(M) and CITU veteran in a constituency in Thiruvananthapuram district in the place of a local leader recommended by it. The issue is yet to be sorted out. There were revolts over the choice of candidates in the Kerala Congress(J) and the Janata Dal also.

The LDF's manifesto released with much fanfare contains promises which can transform the State altogether. It identifies IT, biotechnology and tourism as the engines of the State's progress in the coming days and resolves to create an youth force of one million in the IT area alone.

The UDF which started its seat-sharing exercise earlier than the LDF took a few more days to complete it. It was settled fairly amicably with the Congress(I) deciding to contest 88 seats, the Muslim League 23, the Kerala Congress (M) 11, the JSS 5, the RSP (B) and the Kerala Congress (Jacob) four each, the CMP three and the Kerala Congress(B).

There were some rumblings in the Kerala Congress (M) over the selection of candidates leading to the smashing of a local office or two. But the party succeeded in bringing the situation under control very soon. The sharing of seats among the groups in the Congress (I) turned out to be a harder nut to crack.

The party high command had originally allotted 40 seats to the Antony group, 34 to the Karunakaran group, nine to the reformists and five to the Vayalar Ravi group. The Karunakaran group got this equation changed and evened with the Antony group by virtually pointing a gun at the high command's head. The resentment of the ordinary workers at Mr. Karunakaran's belligerence and Mr. A.K. Antony's pacifism manifested in the booing of the former at an election convention addressed by him and the bid by the latter's own supporters to burn an effigy of his.

The all-round bitterness which the developments in the Congress (I) have caused may take some time to get erased if it will erase at all. But the resolution of the issue will enable the Congress (I) workers to campaign unitedly for the party and the front at least in public even though they may be hiding sharp daggers under their cloaks. Because of the problems in the Congress (I), the UDF could not release its manifesto so far. It is expected to be made public in a day or two. The settlement of the dispute in the Congress (I) has made the calculations of the BJP go awry. It was evidently because of the dispute that the BJP waited and watched the situation after announcing its first list of 48 candidates. It must obviously have been planning to gain political mileage from the situation if it was not resolved. That is probably why within hours of the settlement it came out with its second and final list. The BJP and its allies too are yet to release their manifesto.

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Section  : Southern States
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