PUDUCHERRY: Puducherry Congress candidate and incumbent MP, V Vaithilingam, commenced his campaign in Mahe, amidst the heated CPM-Congress poll battle in Kerala spilling into the UT region. Former Home Minister E Valsaraj, MLA Ramesh Parambath and other leaders campaigned at various places and addressed a public meeting on Thursday.
Though Vaithilingam is contesting the elections as part of the DMK-led INDIA bloc with left parties being part of it, CPM, a major political party in the region, is not supporting the Congress candidate. This decision stems from the traditional political feud in Kerala where the CPM and Congress are contesting each other.
Mahe unit of CPM comes under the party’s Kannur district unit, which has directed the cadre not to support the congress candidate in the UT region. “Instead we have decided to support the candidature of United Republican party candidate K Prabhudevan,” CPM unit Secretary Sunil Kumar said.
However, the Congress depends on the party’s vote bank and that of neutral voters. “Though the left did not support him in the 2019 elections, Vaithilingam still managed to poll much higher votes than his opponents. Similarly, he is expecting to draw votes higher than BJP and AIADMK candidates in the Assembly segment,” noted sources close to his campaign. The left not supporting us will not affect us, as they are neither supporting our main rival the BJP candidate or the AIADMK candidate, says V Narayanasamy, former Chief Minister.
While the left votes may not go to the main rival BJP candidates, losing out on the substantial left vote could impact the overall outcome of the elections.