KOCHI: By fielding Dr Jo Joseph, a cardiologist at the Church-run Lisie Hospital, in the Thrikkakara bypoll, the CPM is aiming to achieve two main objectives — to send a message to the Christian community, a section of which seems to be slowly drifting to the BJP, that the Left will address their concerns; and to woo a large section of professionals, especially software engineers, in the constituency to address the threat posed by the AAP-Twenty20 candidate.
Political analyst A Jayashankar said Dr Joseph’s candidature is to appease Christian community. “We can assume from the announcement that it is intended only to appease Christian communities. Thrikkakara, an urban constituency, has a considerable vote share of Hindus and Muslims too,” he said. He pointed out that besides Syrian Catholics, Latin Catholics also have a big say in the constituency.
The constituency elected P T Thomas, who was at odds with the Church in the last election, even though the Left fielded another Christian candidate (J Jacob) in 2021 assembly election. J Jacob contested as an LDF independent while this time round its candidate is contesting in the CPM party symbol. “The message is very clear,” he said.
Though CPM candidate Dr Joseph ruled out that he was the nominee of the Church during his debut presser on Thursday, he said he would welcome votes from all sections of people. Analysts said CPM is also attempting to dispel allegations on the growing dominance of Muslim leaders in the party.
The selection of a successful professional as its candidate is also calculated. The logic is simple. Thrikkakara is home to IT hub Infopark, where over 50,000 software professionals are employed. There is a fear that the combination of Aam Aadmi Party and Twenty20 would lure the votes of professionals in the by-poll. “The party hopes to take this threat out of the equation through this move,” he said.
Fr Paul Thelakat, former spokesperson of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, said though there was nothing wrong in selecting a Christian candidate, the fact that the Church-run hospital was used as a platform for the candidate’s press conference has set a wrong precedent. “The way the LDF announced its candidate is clearly a break from secularism. No Church institution should be used as its venue. The Church personnel and institutions must keep away from partisan political actions,” he said.