KOCHI: The upcoming Thrikkakara assembly byelection may see Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) testing Kerala’s political waters with a new experiment. It is learnt that AAP, buoyed by its success in the Punjab assembly elections, may contest the bypoll with the backing of Twenty20, the corporate-backed political outfit, whose success has so far been confined to the Kizhakkambalam-Mazhuvannoor belt of Ernakulam district. “We are seriously looking into a possible alliance.
There are rumours that Twenty20 is not fielding candidates in Thrikkakara, but these are not true. We will finalise the plan soon,” said chief coordinator and mentor of Twenty20 Sabu M Jacob, dropping enough hints that it is exploring a tie-up with AAP.
AAP Kerala convenor P C Cyriac said his party has not decided whether to contest in the byelection as it is busy strengthening committees at various levels, from the assembly to panchayat, municipality, booth and ward. “While one section within the party wants us to put up a candidate in Thrikkakara assembly bypoll, another sector argues that we should focus on strengthening our base first,” he said.
Cyriac admitted that AAP has not been active for the last two-three years but the party is slowly reviving the activities across the state from the grassroots after its victory in Punjab. In the last assembly elections, P T Thomas of Congress secured 59,839 votes while J Jacob, LDF-backed Independent, bagged 45,510 votes. BJP’s T S Saji polled 15,483 votes (11.34%) and Twenty20 bagged 13,897 votes (10.18%). The bypoll is necessitated after the sudden demise of Thomas.
Though the AAP-Twenty20 alliance can at best hope to finish third in the byelection, sources said the combination is capable of upsetting the Congress hopes of retaining the seat. “AAP-Twenty20 mostly pull votes from the UDF camp. In the last election, P T Thomas’ winning margin was 14,329 votes. “If the LDF puts up a strong candidate combined with the AAP-Twenty20 alliance, the Congress will have to fight really hard to retain its citadel,” said a source.
V4 Kochi to AAP
On Wednesday, the majority of apolitical outfit V4 Kochi joined AAP. At a function at AAP state committee office, state convener P C Cyriac and state secretary Padmanabhan welcomed the new members. “With V4 Kochi’s entry, AAP will become stronger in Ernakulam,” said Cyriac.