KOCHI : Tales of giant-killers in politics are always thrilling. And Kerala has had a fair share of them.
There have been many, including A P Abdullakutty, K Francis George, Dr K S Manoj, T J Anjalose, B K Nair, who sprang a surprise by defeating leaders considered invincible. But, the stories of V P Nair, Ramachandran Kadannappilli, and Neelalohithadasan Nadar are the stuff of legends.
During the 1952 Lok Sabha elections, the communist party wanted a young, influential face to take on Congress candidate and former prime minister of Travancore - Kochi state Paravoor T K Narayana Pillai in the Chirayinkeezhu constituency.
They approached V Parameswaran Nair, a law graduate who was employed with the Travancore government service. His father T K Velu Pillai, who had compiled the Travancore State Manual, was among the most influential in the erstwhile princely state.
V P Nair contested the poll as a Left-backed independent candidate, and was elected with a margin of 16,904 votes.
“My father was a politician by accident,” says Viswanathan Nair, younger son of V P Nair, who passed away in 1990. “Not many were willing to take up the challenge to contest against Paravoor T K Narayana Pillai. My father was not a member of the communist party, so he contested as an independent. He was a powerful orator; even Jawaharlal Nehru had appreciated his speeches.”
In 1957, V P Nair took on a bigger challenge – to contest against RSP trade union leader N Sreekantan Nair in Kollam. Sreekantan was a local hero for his role in the Kollam Cotton Mill agitation. He was popular among the cashew and coir workers, too. Yet, V P Nair, who contested as a CPI candidate., defeated him
“My father believed that his biggest achievement was the victory against Sreekantan Nair,” says Vihwananthan. “He was pained when the CPI split, and quit politics in 1962. We returned to our ancestral house at Sasthamkotta in Kollam, where he established the ‘Kerala Sabdam’ weekly. It was later sold to Krishna Swami Reddiar.”
Another memorable David vs Goliath battle traces back to the early seventies in Kasaragod, which had been represented in the Lok Sabha by CPM icon A K Gopalan (AKG) for three terms. A young Congress leader breached the communist bastion in 1971.
The state conference of the KSU, held that year in Thrissur, had elected 26-year-old Ramachandran Kadannappalli as its president. He belonged to the league of rising Congress leaders such as A K Antony, Oommen Chandy, A C Shanmughadas, Vayalar Ravi, and V M Sudheeran.
It was soon after the Congress had split, and Indira Gandhi wanted Ramachandran to contest against E K Nayanar of the CPM. As the party leadership wanted all candidates to file their nominations on the same day, Ramachandran rushed from Thrissur in an Ambassador car, and reached Kasaragod the next morning.
The odds were heavily against him. Ramachandran was apprehensive about his chances in Kasaragod, where AKG had won with a margin of 1.19 lakh votes in the previous election.
But there was a turnaround. The voters, impressed by his simplicity, elected Ramachandran with a margin of 28,404 votes.
In 1977, Ramachandran retained the constituency, defeating M Ramanna Rai of the CPM with a margin of 4,042 votes. Subsequently, however, he left the Congress, along with A K Antony and Oommen Chandy.
Ramachandran refused to return to the Indian National Congress, even as Antony and Chandy merged their faction with the grand old party in 1982. Since then, the Congress (S), led by Ramachandran, has been a reliable partner of the Left front.
In 1980, Congress novice A Neelalohithadasan Nadar jolted the LDF as he defeated veteran CPI leader M N Govindan Nair in Thiruvananthapuram. Nair had been quite influential as the state secretary of the CPI.
He had brought in revolutionary changes in the state’s farming sector as agriculture minister, and also played a key role in the fight for rights of the backward classes in the state. Yet, the voters gave Nadar the mandate with a margin of 1,07,057 votes. Nadar, however, later left the Congress and joined the Janata Dal.
Another such ‘jolty’ election was in Kannur. Though the cradle of the communist movement, the Kannur Lok Sabha seat was a stronghold of the Congress. Former Union minister Mullappally Ramachndran had represented the constituency in the Lok Sabha for five terms from 1984 to 1998.
A former firebrand SFI leader ended Mullappally's dominance in 1999. A P Abdullakutty, who had served as the general secretary of Calicut University student’s union in 1989, defeated Mullappally with a margin of 10,247 votes in 1999, and retained the seat with a margin of 83,849 in 2004.
Abdullakutty, however, was expelled from the CPM for praising the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in 2009. He subsequently joined the Congress, and represented Kannur in the state assembly for two terms. He was expelled from the Congress in 2019, yet again for praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiatives. Abdullakutty eventually joined the BJP.
Considered a Left bastion, the Congress wanted to unseat the CPM in Alathur constituency and the party decided to field a young woman candidate hailing from modest background in 2019. The party picked Ramya Haridas, who was serving as the president of Kunnamangalam block panchayat.
Daughter of a daily wager, Ramya could strike a chord with the voters with her girl-next-door image and ability to sing. She defeated two time MP P K Biju of the CPM by a margin of 1,58,968 votes – highest for a women candidate in Kerala.
Some other notable fights
K Francis George, son of Kerala Congress founder leader K M George, helped the Left to end the Congress dominance of the Idukki Lok Sabha seat in 1999. He defeated former Union minister P J Kurien by a margin of 9,298 votes and retained the constituency in 2004, trouncing senior Congress leader Benny Behenan by 69,384 votes.
Dr K S Manoj, a physician by profession, sprang a surprise as he defeated veteran Congress leader V M Sudheeran in Alappuzha constituency in 2004 by a margin of 1,009 votes. He, however, lost to Congress leader K C Venugopal in 2009. Manoj resigned from CPM in 2010, as the party barred members from practising religion.
In 1991, the CPM fielded T J Anjalose against Congress veteran Vakkom Purushothaman, who was contesting for the third time, in Alappuzha. Anjalose defeated Vakkom by a margin of 14,075 votes. The CPM later expelled Anjalose, and he joined the CPI.
CPI leader V V Raghavan defeated former CM K Karunakaran and his son K Muraleedharan in consecutive Lok Sabha elections in Thrissur. In 1996, Raghavan defeated Karunakaran with a margin of 1,480 votes. In 1998, he beat Muraleedharan with a margin of 18,409 votes.