UDF optimistic of gaining Aranmula

By Radhakrishnan Kuttoor

PATHANAMTHITTA, APRIL 24. The UDF camp in Aranmula is in a buoyant mood with the clearing-up of the dark clouds that threatened to mar its electoral prospects in the wake of the Congress seat allocation controversy in this predominantly UDF bastion.

Though Mr. A. Padmakumar of the CPI(M) and Mr. V.N. Unni of the BJP have made much headway in their election campaign in Aranmula, Ms. Malethu Saraladevi of the Congress, the UDF candidate, is fast picking up.

All the three have got the advantage of hailing from Aranmula and the poll is a test to measure their acceptability in their home constituency.

Aranmula, long regarded as a traditional UDF stronghold in Pathanamthitta district, had become the cynosure of the 1996 Assembly elections when the CMP leader, Mr. M.V. Raghavan of the UDF, fought a losing battle against Mr. Kadammanitta Ramakrishnan of the LDF. Mr. Ramakrishnan, a noted poet, who had contested as a CPI(M) independent had won from Aranmula with a margin of 2,687 votes.

However, neither the political analysts nor the people of Aranmula have taken Mr. Ramakrishnan's victory as a victory of the CPI(M) or the LDF and this is evident when local people comment: ``it happened only because many local UDF leaders here preferred it so.'' Even Mr. Raghavan had aired his grievance or rather `anguish' in public on many occasions that he was ``backstabbed'' by certain Congress leaders in Aranmula.

In the 1998 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress candidate for the Mavelikara Parliamentary constituency, Prof P.J. Kurien, had registered a lead of 793 votes in the Aranmula Assembly segment over his LDF rival, Dr. Ninan Koshy.

In the Parliament elections of 1999, the AICC secretary, Mr. Ramesh Chennithala had got 4,681 votes more than the LDF candidate, Dr. Ninan Koshy, from the Aranmula Assembly segment.

The elections to the local bodies have also reflected the UDF upperhand in the constituency. The Assembly segment, spread out over the district panchayat divisions of Ayroor, Kulanada and Koipram, recorded a pro-UDF voting pattern in the civic elections of 2000.

When the Kulanada and Ayroor divisions went in favour of the UDF, the Koipram division went the LDF way. However, the Koipram grama panchayat that comes under the Aranmula Assembly segment has recorded a UDF dominance in the civic polls.

Aranmula was in the news when Ms. Saraladevi, backed by the senior Congress leader, Mr. K. Karunakaran, had revolted against the candidature of the DCC secretary and `A' group leader, Mr. K. Sivadasan Nair. Mr. Karunakaran's adamant stand that Ms. Saraladevi be fielded in Aranmula, ultimately made the Congress high command amend its earlier list of candidates and cancel Mr. Nair's candidature.

However, the high command decision had raised large-scale protests in the `A' group camp in Aranmula and the impasse was broken only after reconciliation talks by the DCC chief, Mr. Peelippose Thomas, another `A' group strongman in the district.

Meanwhile, the CPI(M) and BJP have entered their second phase of election campaign in the constituency, leaving the UDF workers and sympathisers in an embarrassed situation.

The UDF leaders here claim that Ms. Saraladevi, a politician-cum- social worker, needs no introduction in her home constituency. They claim that this 56-year-old retired high school teacher who has won many prizes and praise as a socio-political worker has a unique niche in the social psyche of Aranmula which would enable the UDF to sweep the forthcoming polls.

However, there are many UDF leaders here who accept in private that their candidate has lost a sizable time of her poll campaign on account of the inner-party squabbles of the Congress and so will have to toil hard to make-up for lost time.

Another important factor is that Ms. Saraladevi will have to take every A-group leader in the constituency into confidence so as to make her election campaign a grand success in Aranmula, which is considered to be a stronghold of the A-group.

Meanwhile, the main problem facing the UDF candidate is the shortage of time and an effective leadership to manage her belated election campaign.

The denial of AICTE sanction for the much-publicised engineering college in the co-operative sector in Aranmula will be a main issue in the election campaign of both the UDF and the BJP in Aranmula.

CPI(M) focus on development

The CPI(M) candidate, Mr. Padma Kumar, appears to be very confident of repeating the LDF victory of 1996 in the ensuing polls too.

Mr. Padmakumar says that the constituency has witnessed development works worth Rs. 250 crores during the five-year LDF rule. This, according to him, is in sharp contrast with the legislatorship of the UDF MLAs from the constituency in the past.

Even the two former UDF MLAs, Mr. M.K. Hemachandran and Mr. R. Ramachandran Nair, who were also State Ministers, could initiate only few development works in Aranmula as they were not bothered about the plight of the people in Aranmula, alleges Mr. Padmakumar.

The LDF projects the construction of bridges at Ambalakadavu, Peroorchal and Nalkalickal, the water stadium and riverside amenities centre at Aranmula, the multi-crore project to develop the Aranmula-Kulanada Road as per the National Highway standards and the new Ayurvedic Hospital complex at Ayroor as its major achievements in Aranmula during the past five years.

However, the UDF does not see this as the MLA's achievements. Ms. Saraladevi says that the Central fund for the Riverside Amenities Centre was sanctioned by the former Union Minister, Mr. Gulam Nabi Azad, and the two bridge projects were sanctioned by the previous UDF Government.

According to the UDF leaders, the expansion project for the District Ayurvedic Hospital at Ayroor was prepared by the former UDF Government and the foundation stone of the new hospital complex was laid by the then Helath Minister, Mr. V.M. Sudheeran.

BJP's `winnable' seat

The BJP, which has already made its presence felt in Aranmula in the 1999 Parliament elections and the civic polls of 2000, has taken the constituency as one of its `top 10 winnable' seats in the State.

The BJP State secretary, Mr. Ettumanur Radhakrishnan, has been camping in the constituency for the past one month to personally supervise the election campaign of the BJP district president, Mr. V.N. Unni in Aranmula.

The BJP with its 10 members in the seven grama panchayats in the Aranmula Assembly segment had even won a block panchayat division in the civic polls. The BJP stood second in 29 grama panchayat wards and four block panchayat divisions in the Aranmula Assembly segment by registering a total vote tally of 18,247 votes in the civic elections.

In the 1996 Assembly polls, the BJP got 8,960 votes and in the 1999 Parliament elections, the BJP candidate in the Mavelikara Parliament constituency, Mr. K. Raman Pillai, got 11,646 votes from the Aranmula Assembly segment.

Top BJP sources here claim that the SNDP, the Chakkamar Maha Sabha, the Pentecostal and certain other Christian groups have already ensured their strong backing to its candidate in Aranmula this time.

The systematic election campaign of the BJP candidate is another noteworthy feature in Aranmula. The BJP leaders say that their candidate launched his house-to-house campaign early in January itself and completed a round of the campaign a week ago.

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Section  : State Elections
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