Battle lines drawn for State polls

By C. Gouridasan Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 7. Battle lines for the coming Assembly elections have become clear with the rival alliances announcing names of their candidates, of course with the notable exception of the LDF nominee for the Puthuppally constituency in Kottayam district.

The LDF is trying to cash in on the headstart it gained thanks to the confusion in the Congress over candidate selection and the senior Congress leader, Mr. K. Karunakaran's outburst against his party colleagues. However, now that the Congress is ready with its list and the BJP is all set to jump into the fray, the poll campaign would hot up in the coming few days.

As usual, the LDF has emerged from the starting block as strong contenders but the ruling Front leadership knows only too well that a good start is little else but that and any poll battle is a long drawn out affair with a lot of imponderables contributing to the final outcome. The LDF bid is to neutralise any anti- incumbency mood among the electorate with its systematic work and strategic partnerships.

The emergence of Mr. Cheriyan Philip as a dissident in the UDF camp has come as a windfall for the CPI(M), but it is doubtful whether the rest of the LDF constituents think so. However, it is commonly accepted by the Front leadership that Mr. Philip's criticism of the ways of the Congress leadership would be a vindication of the criticism that the LDF has always voiced about the composition and character of the UDF.

Mr. Philip has already announced that he would be an independent candidate in Puthuppally and declared that he would accept support from any quarter. This is a clear sign that he might probably looking up to support from the LDF. The CPI(M) or the LDF cannot, for obvious reasons, announce support for his candidature without getting firm confirmation about his determination to oppose the Congress and the UDF.

It is not that the LDF is not free of problems. The Janata Dal decision to field the former State Election Commissioner, Mr. M. S. Joseph, as the Janata Dal-backed independent in Idukki has created problems for the LDF what with the sitting MLA, Mr. Sulaiman Rawther, threatening to enter the fray as a rebel. The LDF was actually left with a Hobson's choice here. Had it decided to renominate Mr. Rawther, it would have had to pay a heavy price. None of the LDF constituents are happy with Mr. Rawther and this attitude has come in handy for the Janata Dal to attempt at a change of face.

The problems within the KC(J) had also caused some worry to the LDF, but these have apparently been sorted out. In the NCP, the only remaining dispute concerned Mavelikara where the party was forced to field the youth leader, Mr. N. V. Pradeep Kumar. This the party did under pressure from the younger elements. On its part, the CPI had handled its candidate selection sticking to the principle of continuity. Whether this has gone down well with the party cadres would be known only in the days to come.

Apart from the keenness it had shown in the candidate selection, one area where the LDF paid attention was to field candidates who approximated the winnability criteria without compromising on the generation political stance of the ruling alliance. Father Mathai Nooranal is a case in point. This is the first time that a priest from the numerically weak, but socially and economically powerful community has been picked by the CPI(M) to represent it in the Assembly. That the cassock is fine with the Leftist platform would be a novel experience for the electorate of Sulthan Bathery.

The LDF leadership is busy with the campaigning and no meeting of the LDF State committee is slated for the coming one week. But informal consultations are in progress among the leaders.

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