ALAPPUZHA: The forthcoming bypoll for the Chengannur Assembly seat is generating heat and light on a scale not seen in the case of most bypoll battles fought in the state, despite the fact the Poll Panel is yet to issue the notification for the bypoll regarded as a prestige issue by all the three major fronts - the ruling LDF, the Opposition UDF and the BJP-NDA. Mainly, the bypoll is viewed as a pointer to the likely outcome in the Lok Sabha elections due in April-May 2019. On account of this, the rival fronts are pulling out all the stops with their respective candidates - Saji Cheriyan (LDF), D Vijayakumar (UDF) and Adv P S Sreedharan Pillai (BJP-NDA) - campaigning from dawn-to-dusk to reach out to the maximum number of voters ahead of D-Day.
While the UDF is highlighting the development activities carried out in the constituency during the previous government’s tenure, the LDF Ministers are crisscrossing the seat inaugurating various development programmes before the Model Code kicks in. The BJP-NDA, expectedly, is banking on PM Narendra Modi’s development plank.
The UDF is trying to regain the constituency which it had lost in the 2016 Assembly elections while the LDF is trying to sustain its winning streak after K K Ramachandran Nair secured a victory for the CPM-led combine there after a gap of 10 years. For the BJP- NDA, though, the election will be a litmus test as it will be looking to take off from where it left off in the erstwhile CPM citadel of Tripura.
Cheriyan, who has been the CPM’s Alappuzha district chief twice, is hardly a pushover. After entering active politics through the SFI in the late 1970s, he went on to become the CPM Chengannur taluk committee member in 1990 and was elected the party’s area secretary in 2001. Cheriyan had unsuccessfully contested against Vishnunath here in 2006.
Vijayakumar’s nomination did surprise some but he is a household name among the voters in Chengannur having served as Chengannur Agriculture Cooperative Bank president and Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Sangham (ABASS) vice-president. He had cut his political teeth through student politics, having been the KSU unit vice-president at the NSS College, Changanassery. Following his stint with the Youth Congress, he was made the Alappuzha DCC general secretary, INTUC district vice- president and KPCC member and executive member. He was also the Indian Lawyers’ Congress state vice president, Scouts and Guides’ Mavelikkara district president and Chengannur Bar Association president.
Pillai, a former BJP state chief, is regarded as the party’s moderate face in Kerala. Hailing from Venmony in Chengannur, he started his public life through Jansangh in 1966. Currently, he is a special invitee to the BJP national executive. Pillai has authored several tomes.The by-election was necessitated by the death of K K Ramachandran Nair.
Three LDF activists hacked near Chengannur
Alappuzha: Three LDF activists were hacked allegedly by NDA activists at Pandanad near Chengannur on Sunday. The police said the injured are Bijeesh,29, Muriyakkara; Rajesh, 30, Thulaparambil; Sujith, 25, Uttummathara. The incident took place around 3 pm at Muriyakkara, Pandanad. The injured are being treated at the Taluk Hospital, Chengannur and are in a stable condition. LDF activists said the injured were BDJS activists before joining the DYFI a few months ago. It’s alleged they were attacked by two BDJS activists who came on a motorcycle. BJP district president K Soman said no NDA worker was involved in the incident.