THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Thiruvananthapuram Vikasana Munnettam (TVM), which was launched with much fanfare ahead of local body polls last December, is nowhere in the picture during this election. TVM was launched by a group of businessmen and former diplomats, taking a cue from the emergence of apolitical formations like ‘Twenty 20’.TVM was formed solely aimed at development of Thiruvananthapuram with the participation of a large group of people in the capital and to take part in the electoral process for bringing a change on the development front.
Though the founders had earlier promised that TVM would contest in assembly polls even after it lost in 14 wards of Thiruvananthapuram city corporation where it had fielded candidates, the party decided to keep away from elections for the time being. Lack of man-power at grassroots level is cited as the reason.
The party had failed to make an impact among the youth of Thiruvananthapuram even though it had come up with the brand ‘TVM’.
“The development of the capital is the need of the hour. Major political parties are least concerned about it. We were happy when TVM arrived in style before LSG elections. But the party disappeared soon after elections. We thought that the party would at least make its presence in assembly polls. But it did not happen. Hopefully, it will be active again for the development of the city”, said Shelly Raveendran, convener, Trivandrum Development Front (TDF), an NGO working for the development of the city.
Though TVM came last in many of the wards in LSG election, the party managed to get 6.9 per cent votes. Sheeja Varghese who contested from Kinavoor ward gave a good fight, winning more votes than the UDF candidate and ended up third.
However, the party failed to reach out to the hearts of well-wishers.According to S N Raghuchandran Nair, president of TVM, the outfit is still in action and is formulating a five-year plan so as to field 100 candidates in 100 wards of city corporation in next local body elections in 2025.
“It is true that we had planned to field candidates in assembly polls. But later, we changed the plan and decided to focus only on local body elections. Firstly, we do not have sufficient manpower for working in booths and taking up campaign. For local body elections, we can manage. We are beginners in politics. We need to grow and it will take some time to establish. We will make a mark in next local body polls. It is not an easy task for us to contest in assembly polls like ‘Twenty 20’ did. It had already established itself in local body elections and hence it decided to contest in assembly polls. But we will never give up and are continuing the work for development of the city”, said Nair.
As part of future plan, the party has formed a ‘shadow cabinet’ comprising five members who come from various fields so that they could monitor and give suggestions to legislators who won from constituencies in the city limits. The ‘cabinet’ will ensure a periodical review of city development and interact with the elected representatives as a corrective force.