THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: 8 A.M. Puthupally House, Sudarshan Nagar, Jagathy. There were no visitors nor party leaders. The man, in his trademark dishevelled hair, was sitting before the television, keeping a close tab on the counting.
As the initial results from Kannur came in, his calm intense face turned more pleasant. Oommen Chandy sensed a wave in favour of the UDF in the state. But he was not ready to get carried away by it. Even when he was keen to know about the developments from each constituency, he was switching channels to know the results from other parts of the country.
Chandy was a composed person, as he is known to be even during the most testing of times. The first call came from K Sudhakaran. “Congratulations,’’ Chandy said. “It is the hard work you had put in that helped us wrest the seat back from the CPM.’’ Soon came the news about K V Thomas trailing in Ernakulam.
Chandy immediately called up Thomas and enquired about the situation.
“It will change. Don’t worry,’’ Chandy said. Even when Chandy was keeping a close watch on the results, his grandson was trying to play with him.
Chandy did not let him down. He took him into his lap and offered him biscuits.
His son Chandy Oommen, daughters Achu Oommen and Mariam Oommen too joined him to watch the television. By 9.30 a.m. it had become almost certain that the UDF was giving an impressive show in the election.
Chandy, obviously, was over the moon. But he did not express it. The elation, some of it, peeped out in the form a smile. “It’s a good performance,’’ he said, like a stern father silently proud of his child’s feat.
Soon there came a call from Kannur DCC president Ramakrishnan. “Congratulations, don’t forget that I too have a small role in this victory,’’ he told Ramakrishnan, in a very light vein. He then heard that Sateeshan Pacheni was trailing. Chandy called up Satheeshan. “There is some confusion there. Will speak to Nalini Netto,’’ Chandy said. By 11 a.m. the results of each constituency started pouring in and also a bevy of calls.
At 12.03 p.m. he went inside the room dialling a number in the cordless phone. He came back and said, “I called up Madam and said we have got 16 seats. She is very happy. She is more happy about the overall results in the country,’’ Chandy said. As he was talking to us, we heard sloganshouting outside his house. A group of Congress workers had come to congratulate him. “Thanks for all the support.
Don’t create much noise as it would cause trouble for the neighbours,’’ Chandy said and politely asked them to leave.
The results were almost finalised and hence he decided to leave to his official residence, Cantonment House to meet the press. “Thanks for all the support. You were our strength,’’ Chandy told us and signed off.