THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: THE Left Democratic Front has come up with five fresh faces for the October 21 byelection as it looks to wrest four seats from the UDF and retain the other.V K Prasanth (Vattiyoorkavu), K U Jenish Kumar (Konni), Manu C Pulickal (Aroor), Manu Roy (Ernakulam) and M Shankar Rai (Manjeshwar) will be the candidates.
CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said Manu Roy would contest as Left-backed independent while others will be party candidates.Prasanth is currently the Thiruvananthapuram corporation mayor while Janeesh and Manu C are DYFI state vice-presidents. Shankar is Kasaragod district committee member.
A practising lawyer, Manu Roy is journalist K M Roy’s son. All except Shankar are law graduates. Kodiyeri told mediapersons that the election would not be a referendum on the state government. “We don’t consider it as a mini-assembly election. Whatever be the result, it won’t affect the state government,” said Balakrishnan.
The LDF’s booth election committees will be constituted before October 5. According to Kodiyeri, the front enjoys the support of community organisations like the SNDP and NSS.
Responding to questions on going against caste equations in Vattiyoorkavu, Kodiyeri claimed the Left never looks at that aspect while picking candidates. He said the party is fielding Thiruvananthapuram mayor as it is confident of wresting Vattiyoorkavu seat. The LDF had come third there in the 2016 assembly election.
Supreme Court vs state
The Supreme Court has not given humanitarian consideration while interpreting law in the case of Maradu, Kodiyeri said.He admitted the Maradu flat issue has become complicated and the state government was left with limited choices. More buildings will have to be demolished if one reads the court order carefully, he said.
Terming it an unprecedented situation, Kodiyeri said the flat owners should be rehabilitated and builders made to pay for the losses. He said the Supreme Court verdicts have put the state government, which has the responsibility to implement the unpopular orders, in a fix.
“There’re a set of people who turn the public against the government when it implements the apex court order. The court has never given humanitarian consideration when it interprets law,” said Kodiyeri.
He said the government would go ahead with the implementation of the Supreme Court verdict on Sabarimala irrespective of the poll outcome. On the ongoing tussle between Jacobite and Orthodox factions, Kodiyeri said the government was forced to treat it as a law-and-order issue.