THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Attingal town located 30 km away from the capital city has become active in political campaigns for the upcoming municipality election after all the major parties announcing the list of candidates in the fray.
LDF had a head start as it was the first one to announce its candidates while the UDF took time as it set its house in order to finally announce the list on Friday. The BJP which has steadily increased its presence in the council has also started door-to-door campaigns. The 31-member municipal council had 22 members from LDF, five from UDF and four from BJP.
The LDF is looking to repeat its success story by riding on the development initiatives undertaken under municipal chairman of Pradeep M. "We have been able to improve the lives of people and the developmental activities undertaken by the ruling council is there for everyone to see," said Pradeep.
According to him, the achievements in national highway development, solid waste management, among others were the highlights of his term.
At the same time, the UDF considers anti-incumbency factor coupled with wise selection of candidates as the deciding factors for its comeback. It has ruled only once in 2000-2005 since the municipality came into existence in 1979.
This time, Attingal MP Adoor Prakash has taken the lead in reversing the fortunes of the front. He intervened to iron out differences in candidate selection. This time the party has given 18 seats to women and included two in general seats. The UDF's leader in the previous council, M Anilkumar said the victory of Adoor Prakash in Lok Sabha election has given the much-needed boost to the party.
Besides people were against the continuous LDF rule as it had done nothing to reduce traffic congestion, shoddy development of the NH stretch and destruction of industrial units set up during UDF rule, he said. The BJP too is upbeat about its prospects in the election. It had steadily increased its presence last time too by winning four seats.
"We have been able to press the council to implement some of the centrally sponsored schemes. More people received the benefits of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) because we insisted on relaxing the land norms," said S Santosh, BJP leader in the council.