KONNI: When Express hit Ground Zero in Konni, heavy rain was lashing the region accompanied by crackling thunder. And the hill town, synonymous with timber trade and taming rogue elephants -- which is fast emerging as a popular trekking and rock-climbing destination, besides jungle safaris -- has been decked with campaign paraphernalia, including paper posters, cut-outs, banners and flags, of major political parties.
When Konni goes to the polling station on October 21, voters will weigh in on a slew of issues ranging from rubber price crash to indiscriminate quarrying. From the political parties’ standpoint, it is the Sabarimala issue which towers over all other issues up before the electorate in Konni. Crucially, they believe its fallout has the potential to decide the final outcome of the bypoll. But a cross-section of people whom Express spoke to did not evince much interest in discussing the Sabarimala issue. Nonetheless, a section still sees it as a major betrayal by the LDF Government. Belying these expectations, issues such as Sabarimala are unlikely to take centre stage as expected by major parties and caste will prove the deciding factor in Konni.
BJP’s K Surendran, who was the face of the Sabarimala protests, had polled the highest number of voters from the Konni Assembly segment during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when he contested as the party’s candidate from the Pathanamthitta seat. One striking feature when Express toured the constituency is that many Left sympathisers have said had it been Adoor Prakash, they would not think twice before voting for him as he had hard worked for the constituency.
So it’s a tough fight for three fronts and it will be the undercurrents which finally decide the final outcome and whoever is going to come out the winner will not have a huge majority like in past election which saw Adoor Prakash winning by margin of over 20,000 votes.
Sreedevi, 52, who runs Vinitha Restaurant situated in the heart of the town, said everyone knows the politics behind Sabarimala and the political parties have no interest in resolving the issue other than milking it for all the political worth. And development along with the competence of the candidate will be the deciding factor. Another woman voter, who sought anonymity, said a large section of people feel the powers be had betrayed them on the issue and this will naturally reflect in the elections.
Who will ‘tame’ Konni this time?
When the bypoll bugle was sounded in the hill town, the biggest question was who will tame Konni this time around as this is the first time in the last 23 years that the assembly seat will witness an election without Adoor Prakash -- a Karunakaran loyalist -- who entered the collective consciousness of the electorate here, winning back-to-back from here.
While on the one hand, UDF candidate P Mohanraj of the Congress aims to continue from where Adoor Prakash had left off, the LDF on the other hand sees it as an opportunity to wrest power in the constituency from where it had last won in 1991. Giving jitters to these candidates, K Surendran of BJP is looking to repeat his Lok Sabha poll performance.
But on the ground, the Konni bypoll will not be smooth affair for political parties as the three main parties are plagued by a host of practical issues. In the BJP’s case, while Surendran once again looks to ride high on the Sabarimala wave, there is not much sympathy for Sabarimala cause this time in the ground. But the BJP juggernaut is doing its utmost to overcome this by holding renewed campaigns.
As for K U Janeesh Kumar of the CPM, the byelection is really an opportunity to seize the seat back from the UDF as the ruling combine has the backing of dominant Ezhava community this time. In the past elections, Adoor had enjoyed the backing of Ezhavas. This was despite the Ezhava community traditionally favouring the CPM. The LDF is pinning its hopes on the BJP not being able to garner that many votes as it did from the Konni segment during the LS polls. Moreover, the CPM-led alliance believes a sizeable section of votes which Surendran got last time will end up in Janeesh’s kitty. Besides, some of the minority voters, especially the lower middle class Christian voters are expected to favour the CPM.
P Mohanraj is also eying the NSS votes as he has the wholehearted backing of the NSS and he hopes to get Christian middle and upper middle class votes, which will be crucial in deciding the outcome. However, it is yet to be seen if the Ezhava votes can indeed be garnered by Mohanraj given the fact he is seen as the NSS’ choice.