THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the BJP suffering major vote erosion in its stronghold district Thiruvananthapuram, a leadership meeting of the party to take stock of the election results turned out to be a stormy affair. The district leadership came in for sharp criticism for the lack of grassroots-level work and for failing to extend proper support even to candidates with high chances of winning.
Some leaders who attended the meeting told TNIE that the present district leadership’s alleged attempts to present distorted election statistics in a few constituencies triggered heated exchange of words with the former leadership. The district leadership’s comparison of the latest election results in Vattiyoorkavu with the even poorer results of the 2018 bypoll in the constituency was fiercely criticised as as a face-saving exercise. The huge erosion of votes in Nemom, even from party strongholds, also came in for sharp criticism in the meeting with the district leadership unable to give a proper explanation. Heated arguments also ensued while analysing the electoral results in Nedumangad, Kazhakoottam and Kattakkada as well.
“Despite the party pumping in huge sums of money for campaign, there was no grassroots level work. Top leaders focused only on roadshows and peripheral campaigns that lacked people connect,” said a prominent state-level leader who contested from a constituency in the capital. According to another senior leader, door-to-door visits by the party workers were rare and the cadre vanished immediately after open campaign came to a close, like children dispersing in a hurry after the evening school bell.
“The CPM, meanwhile, focused more on silent campaign and succeeded in establishing a proper connect with the people,” he said.
Fixing an upper age limit of 45 years for ‘mandalam’ office-bearers resulted in experienced leaders, enjoying good rapport with the people, being sidelined. On the other hand, the new crop of office-bearers at the mandalam level failed to even attract first-time voters which was one of their primary tasks. Campaigns were mostly on a negative note and confined to social media, said the leader.
KRISHNAKUMAR AIRS DISPLEASURE
Actor-turned politician Krishnakumar G, who was widely tipped to stage a surprise win from Thiruvanantha-puram constituency, made his displeasure public. In an interview to a TV channel, the actor complained of the lack of support from the district leadership even after the party’s chances in the constituency was predicted to be high in opinion polls. In T’Puram constituency, where the BJP polled 42,877 votes in 2019, the party saw its votes plummet to 34,996, denoting a nearly 6% drop. TNIE tried to contact the actor but sources close to him said he has been directed by the leadership to remain silent for the time being as the party would try to find a solution to the issues.