KASARGOD: The BJP leaders in Kasargod district said they were not banking on Sabarimala controversy alone. “The byelection in all probability will be clubbed with the Lok Sabha elections. So it will be a different ball game,” said a top leader of the district. But the 2016 election proved that the BJP was not an anathema in Manjeshwaram, he said.
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The northern-most constituency in Kerala had always given hope to the saffron party, which consistently fielded its top-rung leaders such as K G Marar, C K Padmanabhan and K Surendran to get a foothold in the legislative assembly. In 1991, Marar lost by just 1,072 votes. On the surface, Manjeshwaram may look like a polarised constituency, it has an enigmatic past.When the state was formed in 1957, Manjeshwaram sent Umesh Rao, an Independent to the Assembly, unopposed.
In 1960, another Independent Mahabala Bhandari won the seat. In 1964, he won again on a Congress ticket. In 1967, Independent candidate K M Bhandari defeated Ramana Rai of the CPM. From 1970 to 1987, M Ramappa of the CPI and A Subba Rao represented the constituency.
In 1987, Cherkalam Abdullah won the constituency for the IUML and went on to represent it for 19 consecutive years. C H Kunhambu of the CPM ended Abdullah’s run in 2006. But it turned out to be a flash in the pan for the LDF.
In 2011, the IUML fielded the affable Razak, who wrested the constituency back. Surendran emerged second, pushing Kunhambu to the third position. “We have a fighting chance in Manjeshwaram, if the LDF and the UDF do not strike an understanding to keep out the BJP,” said the BJP leader.