KOCHI: From being viewed as a political hotspot, as the sitting seat of Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan, Paravur has been cornering additional attention following the announcement of the schedule of assembly elections, with the LDF raising the heat by fielding E T Taison Master. Within minutes of the official poll declaration, CPI released its candidate list, naming Taison, the Kaipamangalam MLA, as its candidate in Paravur. It followed up with a rally, marking the launch of the campaign.
Soon after, posters reading ‘Nuna tholkkum, maash jayikkum’— ‘The lie will fail, the master will win’ — began cropping up in public spaces and on social media, with the ‘lie’ referring to accusations raised by left supporters against the political stance of Satheesan.
“Anyone observing political developments will grasp that the LDF gained an edge by naming its candidate and launching its campaign within hours of the announcement of the poll schedule. In a constituency like Paravur, it cannot get better than Taison Master, and we believe the seat can be recaptured — something we have not been able to achieve since the victory of P Raju in 1996,” said a CPM leader who is among those overseeing LDF’s campaign in Ernakulam district.
“The performance of Taison as an MLA is there for all to see in Kaipamangalam, and he is a people’s representative with no blemish in either his political or personal life. Despite allegations of being an outsider, he maintains close ties with Paravur and its people,” a CPI leader said. The earlier success of CPI leaders including N Sivan Pillai and Raju is evidence that we stand a good chance in Paravur, the CPI leader added.
However, K K Gireesh, a Congress leader and standing committee chairman of Vadakkekara grama panchayat, said neither the LDF candidate nor its campaign would be able to dent the strong personal brand of ‘VDS’ in the constituency.
“It is common knowledge that he [Satheesan] will contest from Paravur. Campaign activities had begun, only the official announcement was pending. Over the past five years, he has visited almost every constituency in Kerala at least three times, and has remained actively engaged in Paravur. Moreover, many people see him as a chief ministerial probable,” he said.
A Congress source said the constituency has more than 180 booths, and special meetings were held on Sunday to review preliminary campaign activities, which were progressing well. “As a leader overseeing the UDF’s statewide election campaign, he may not be present in the constituency for the entire period. But even around 10 days of intensive campaigning in the final phase would be enough to cover the entire constituency, where he already maintains a strong presence,” the source added.