THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As campaigning for the Lok Sabha election picks up momentum, the Congress leadership has realised, to its surprise, that its candidates are on a sticky wicket in at least eight seats. Early on, the party believed that only Pathanamthitta and Mavelikkara posed any trouble. But with the rival fronts closing in for the kill, it has dawned on the grand old party that the game is wide open in six other constituencies — Kannur, Vadakara, Thrissur, Alathur, Attingal and Thiruvananthapuram.
In Pathanamthitta, sitting MP Anto Antony is seeking a fourth term, while this will be Kodikunnil Suresh’s eighth outing in Mavelikkara. Both face anti-incumbency issues.
Adding to Anto’s woes, his rival CPM stalwart Thomas Isaac has been making waves across the constituency, engaging voters with his interactive sessions. Kodikunnil has started feeling the heat with CPI’s C A Arunkumar unleashing a campaign marked with youthful vigour.
Bogged down by health issues, Congress state chief and sitting MP from Kannur, K Sudhakaran, had failed to nurse his constituency properly.
And with CPM district secretary M V Jayarajan throwing down the gauntlet, Sudhakaran is finding the going tough, a senior Congress leader told TNIE on condition of anonymity.
Shafi Parambil is not having it easy in Vadakara. CPM’s K K Shailaja, who extended a healing touch to the state as health minister during the pandemic, may have the better of Shafi’s youth and charming ways, Congress insiders feel.
Thrissur is witnessing probably ‘the mother of all battles’, with all the three fronts fielding their best bets. Congress’ K Muraleedharan and CPI’s V S Sunil Kumar seem to be in a dead heat virtual with BJP’s Suresh Gopi not far behind as supporters of all the fronts wait for the result with their fingers crossed.
With the CPM bent to recapture the party citadel, Alathur, that it lost in 2019, sitting MP Congress’ Ramya Haridas is struggling to keep up with the meticulous campaigning of her LDF rival K Radhakrishnan. It is a triangular fight in Attingal between Congress’ Adoor Prakash, CPM’s V Joy and BJP’s V Muraleedharan.
The Congress leadership feels it’s anyone’s game in Attingal.
Thiruvananthapuram also witnesses a triangular fight between Congress strongman Shashi Tharoor, CPI veteran Pannian Raveendran, and NDA’s Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
All the three have plunged into the campaign with all seriousness, and one can only wait with patience for the final results to be out.
