THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The name PV Jagadish Kumar may not ring a bell to everyone. But the shortened Jagadish is a household name. And his comic performances bring a smile to every Malayali’s face. Jagadish, who was a Congress candidate in Pathanapuram against LDF’s K B Ganesh Kumar of the Kerala Congress (Balakrishna Pillai) in the 2016 assembly elections, has donned the role of a campaigner this time.
In the last election, Pathanapuram had literally seen ‘star wars’ with Ganesh, Jagadish and Bheeman Raghu (BJP) giving their tinsel town camaraderie a break and battling it out for the people’s mandate. Despite being a novice, Jagadish managed to poll close to 50, 000 votes even as Ganesh went on to become an MLA for the fourth time.
On Saturday, the 65-year-old Jagadish -- clad in a dapper, white floral shirt -- had his fans aka Congress workers vying with each other to take selfies at Indira Bhavan before he took off for campaigning at Varkala, Nedumangad and Kovalam. Having put in a stellar performance as a lawyer in the Mammootty starrer ‘The Priest, now running successfully in theatres, Jagadish is excited to campaign for Congress candidates.
“I am actually waiting for at least 10 films of mine to be released in the coming days, including ‘One’, another Mammootty starrer. I decided not to contest this time because of the neurodegenerative disorder that my wife, Dr P Rama (former forensic professor, Thiruvananthapuram medical college) is suffering from. Instead, I decided to campaign actively for the Congress,” Jagadish told TNIE.
Before taking up campaigning, alongside producer-director Rajaputra Ranjith, Jagadish sought the nod from the top brass of the Congress including K C Venugopal, general secretary (organisation). Exuding confidence that the UDF will bounce back, Jagadish said there will be no smoke without fire, referring to the plethora of allegations raised against the LDF government.
Regarding the Sabarimala issue, he said, “Devaswom Minister Kadakampally cuts a sorry figure with their party secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI secretary Kanam Rajendran snubbing him over his public expression of regret. The Sabarimala issue is about the believers and traditions and not about gender equality.”
While Jagadish and Ranjith will be focusing on campaigning in southern districts, actors Ramesh Pisharody and Edavela Babu -- who have also shown allegiance to the UDF --have begun campaigning in northern districts including in Dharmajan Bolgatty’s constituency, Balussery.