VELLARIKKUNDU: Last Saturday, Raju Kattakkayam stood in the middle of Vellarikkundu town in Balal panchayat and boomed into a microphone: "No communist has ever worked for the development of the panchayat".
He wrapped up his 30-minute stump speech with a mock appeal: "Dear communists, please don't cheat the poor people of the panchayat".
Kattakkayam (56) -- Congress leader and vice-president of Balal panchayat for the past five years -- was riled by the manifesto of the LDF released the previous day.
In its manifesto, the CPM-led LDF promised to resolve the Prakash Estate impasse with the government if it returned to power.
"We have a revenue minister who represents this constituency and he did nothing to solve the problem of 205 families for the past four years. Now, they have the gall to put that in the manifesto," said Kattakkayam, one of the few Congress leaders in the district who delivers for the party.
Prakash Estate is a vexed issue in Balal panchayat. The rubber plantation company broke up its 275 acres of land into small plots and sold them to a private individual from 1978 to 2012.
According to law, plantation land cannot be sold in pieces and strict laws are in place to control construction activities. Yet, the sale of the plots of Prakash Estate was registered and the government was accepting land taxes from the new owners.
But in 2015, when Prakash Estate tried to sell the remaining 41 acres, a few persons raised objections and the matter landed before the then collector Mohammed Sagir. He found that the sale of the plots was illegal and ordered the Revenue Department to stop collecting land taxes from the 205 owners. That order dashed the lives and livelihood of the residents.
They were not allowed to take loans for agriculture, or education or marriage of their children. And they were not able to sell the land.
"They bureaucrats duped them by first allowing the purchase of the land and now they are being duped again by denying them ownership of the land," said Kattakkayam.
In the last days of the previous UDF government, it ordered the collection of land tax but still, the owners are not given possession certificates, needed for taking loans or selling the property.
"When E Chandrasekharan was an opposition MLA he raised the issue and promised to help the residents. But when he became a minister, he did nothing," said Kattakkayam.
A similar issue is faced by 60 families living in Athiadukam in the panchayat. The Forest Department claimed that the families were living on forest land.
"The High Court ruled that those living on the land for the past 30 years should be given ownership. But the Forest Department, which is with the CPI, has appealed against the order in the Supreme Court," he said.
Satrap of Congress bastion
Kattakkayam lords over Balal panchayat, where the Congress enjoys a brutal majority. M P Joseph is the Congress president of the Balal mandalam committee, but Kattakkayam is the last word.
After half-days' campaigning, Joseph, Kattakkayam, and other UDF leaders unwind in a house of a party supporter at Mallom Darghas. Every 10 minutes, Kattakkayam lights a Shankar beedi and holds it stealthily. Between discreet puffs, he lays down a plan for the workers.
Unlike the previous Congress leaders, Kattakkayam runs a tight ship and takes along all UDF partners, with no dissent in the panchayat, a rare for the Congress.
So much so that even its aggressive partner, the IUML, allowed a Congress candidate to contest from a ward designated to it.
In the 16-ward Balal panchayat, the Congress is contesting in 15 wards and the IUML in ward no. 16.
All 16 candidates are contesting in party symbols. Kallar is the only other panchayat where the Congress has fielded candidates in all the 14 wards under the party symbol. But in Kallar, the Congress did not take along IUML with it, a mistake the Congress did in Balal in 2015.
"This time it is different. Though we are a small party in Balal, Kattakkayam took us along right from the beginning and we will ensure the UDF wins in all the 16 wards," said A C Latheef, secretary of the IUML's Kanhangad assembly segment.
In 2015, the LDF won in three wards where the IUML has influence. "This time we will make up for the wrong we did to the Congress last time," said Latheef, who played a key role in bringing the Vellarikkundu Taluk's Regional Transport Office to Vellarikkundu when the LDF was trying to take it to Parappa in Kinanur-Karinthalam panchayat.
In Balal, that is exactly what the UDF is eyeing for, a clean sweep. Anything less will undermine the authority of Kattakkayam.
Every Congress candidate in the panchayat has been handpicked by him. Every evening, the UDF leaders and candidates assemble in his house for instructions for the next day.
Though the IUML is contesting only in one ward, its leaders criss-cross the panchayat visiting houses of its members and sympathisers in every ward.
In contrast, the LDF is trying to find its feet in the panchayat. Most of its nominees are contesting as independent candidates.
In ward no. 14, reserved for SC candidates, the Kerala Congress (Mani) had to poach Rajesh C R, an active BJP member to the field.
The BJP leader of the panchayat K Uttaman put out a video saying Rajesh recently renewed his party membership and he had asked KC (Mani) not to field him.
"He did not even resign from the BJP," Uttaman said. That's the plight of the LDF in Balal, said Kattakkayam.