THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A person who rode his bike through the length and breadth of the Kattakkada constituency, available at any time for people, party no bar, has now been elected by the people as their legislator.
M R Baiju, who is becoming an MLA for the first time, has also brought an end to the 10-year continuous stint of LDF’s I B Satheesh and reclaimed the constituency, earlier a Congress bastion.
Humbled by the election victory, Baiju hopes to solve the issues in the constituency through the groundwork he has done for the party over the years, alongside the previous MLA N Shakthan.
“During my election campaign, I had three key points in my mind to implement here — the Technological University headquarters, prompt action against drug abuse, and enhance the sports facilities,” Baiju said.
The first one is to speed up the construction process of the headquarters of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, which he claims has not seen any progress in the last 10 years. Notably, the state’s first EV Industrial Park was also launched along the campus in 2024.
While drug abuse seems to be a menace across the state, Baiju sees a different angle in that. “In the last five years, as many as 1,718 cases of synthetic drug use were registered in the Kattakada constituency alone.
The figure of marijuana and other substances stands differently, but synthetics change the entire situation to a grave one,” he said. While understanding that the solution for this requires a wider canvas, Baiju said he is considering a constituency-specific analysis.
“I am part of a private football academy here, and I know the potential of the young generation. We are also planning to upgrade the sports infrastructure in the constituency to a national level,” he said.
“Many of the projects launched by the UDF 10 years ago have not seen any momentum during the LDF rule. Even water tank maintenance was also pathetic,” he added.