THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It was a bit late for UDF’s Thiruvananthapuram candidate C P John to begin his evening campaigns, but he waited patiently before his election committee office in Jagathy. On the other side of the road, a few youngsters dressed in his campaign T-shirts were lining up. A song started playing from the speakers nearby, and all the youngsters started dancing- John was smiling on the side of this flash mob performance, a new-gen way of election campaigning. While these Gen-Z dancers will campaign for the CMP leader on one side of the city, he will actively engage in house visits and roadshows for the coming elections.
As John was about to cross a road along with his party workers, a family of three stopped before him on a bike. The child, who sat between his parents, smiled and waved at him, to which John also waved back. His campaign vehicle made announcements in the backdrop, “A leader without the taints of corruption”.
This is the image John is trying to build as a candidate: a harmless, intellectual person who is seeking people’s verdict this Thursday.
John’s campaign day starts as early as 7.30 am with house visits. With the strong support of party leaders who have already cleared the route for his smooth campaigning, John says that there is little to no time for him to slow down. “Even though we have very little time, we have already completed nearly six rounds of house visits,” he said. In between these hurdles, John takes a reboot break from 2.30 pm to 3 pm-- which he calls a ‘me-time’.
“One thing I am very strict about in my campaign is to turn mics off by 10 pm. Let us not give space for a new issue and let that eat up my campaigns,” he said.
While taking into account the stiff political competition he is facing, John expresses confidence in his victory. “There is no doubt that there is a strong triangular fight in the constituency, but the strong support I received during my house visit programmes has boosted my confidence,” he said.
In a constituency where even the ‘deal allegations’ once surfaced, C P John remains a calm candidate. “I call these remarks absurd claims, and do not want that to take up my election route,” he said.