THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Despite projecting the Sabarimala gold theft case as a key political plank in the recently held LSG polls, there is growing apprehension within the UDF and Congress about continuing to foreground the issue in the 2026 assembly election campaign.
At the Congress leadership meeting held in Wayanad recently, senior leader Ramesh Chennithala raised serious doubts about persisting with Sabarimala as the coalition’s principal campaign theme. Some of the UDF constituents have also cautioned that the issue may have lost its political traction and warned against over-reliance on a particular controversy to gain electoral advantage.
Although the UDF managed to wrest control of the majority of corporations and local bodies, according to Congress election strategist Sunil Kanugolu, the front failed to make significant gains in southern districts. He urged the leadership to take advantage of believers’ sentiments in these districts in the coming elections.
Congress is also apprehensive about the house visit planned by the CPM to seek the opinion of voters and rectify its mistakes. Congress leaders believe it could change the course of events ahead of the assembly election like what happened in 2021.
Considering this, Chennithala cautioned the leadership against continuing with the Sabarimala campaign against the LDF. Drawing a comparison between the 2019 LS election and the 2021 assembly polls, he said it would be unwise to rely excessively on the Sabarimala issue.
“While the UDF registered a landslide victory in the 2019 LS election by mobilising protests against the entry of women to Sabarimala, the electorate chose the LDF in the 2021 assembly election when the same issue was foregrounded,” Chennithala reportedly said.
He also recalled that the CPM’s house visits soon after the LDF’s setback in the 2019 election under the-then state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishna helped turn the tide in the subsequent assembly election in favour of the LDF. Chennithala emphasised that public anger tends to crystallise around a single incident only once.
He also raised doubt whether the Sabarimala issue would retain relevance until the next elections. However, some Congress leaders opined that when assessing the political situation, it could be assumed that more LDF leaders would be booked in the Sabarimala gold theft case in the future. This may keep the issue live till the next elections, they feel.
Meanwhile, some UDF leaders echoed Chennithala’s view that the UDF victory in the 2024 election was shaped by multiple national political developments and anti-incumbency sentiment against the LDF government.