THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: When the capital city goes to polls on coming Tuesday, the UDF leadership is keeping its fingers crossed where they are hoping that the favourable political atmosphere will help them in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. But at the same time, they are worried about whether the candidature will backfire compared to the excellent line-up put up by the LDF and the BJP.During the 2015 civic elections, the UDF was pushed to the third position with a paltry 21 seats in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. This time, rumours are rife that the contest is mostly between the CPM and BJP candidates in majority of wards, which the UDF leaders agree on the sly.
If the LDF and the BJP did pre-election work meticulously, the UDF lagged way behind them under the guise of the pandemic. The UDF and the Congress have always lacked grassroots work in Thiruvananthapuram. Even though the leaders who sit at Indira Bhavan are aware of what ails the DCC, they have failed to act. Despite senior Congress leaders vouching that this time the candidature has been pretty good compared to the previous civic election outings where there has been lesser number of rebel candidates, they have still exuded confidence of putting up a formidable fight. A senior Congress leader told TNIE that the work by the BJP is commendable as RSS workers have taken over the campaign where there is no dearth of funds.
“It has always been a bane of the Congress and the UDF about lack of party workers at the grassroots level under the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation limits. CPM being a cadre-based party and BJP’s work being undertaken meticulously by RSS workers, have put them in good stead over the UDF. Our rivals have also fielded excellent candidates and as of now I am only anticipating anything between 25 -30 seats”, said a senior Congress leader from Thiruvananthapuram.
The local leaders have expressed their strong displeasure against KPCC general secretary Thampanoor Ravi and local MLA V S Sivakumar who have been acting as the group managers of the ‘A’ and ‘I’ factions respectively. They have allegedly been favouring their interests where certain candidates have not shied away from putting their group manager’s pictures in their poster for favours received. The only solace before the Congress leadership is the way in which the coastal areas will favour them.
Congress MLA from Kovalam, M Vincent exuded confidence of winning at least 40 seats among the 100 wards. “There is a strong anti-incumbency wave against the LDF Government. If the BJP Government has come up with farm laws against the interest of the farmers, the LDF Government has come up with fisheries ordinance. Similarly, they have been unable to decide on the Ockhi package,” said Vincent.
DCC president Neyyatinkara Sanal is confident of putting up a good show. He expects 45-50 seats in Corporation.