Palakkad: The three main political fronts – celebrating the culmination of an acrimonious and bitter election campaign of one month – brought Palakkad Town to stop for more than three hours on Monday, November 18, while their road basins were injured through the major arteries.
DJ Music filled the air and confetti machines lined the streets with the colors of the three fronts. The bikers and motorcycles, adorned with festive flags and balloons, extended the rallies more than a kilometer, creating a show of noise and energy.
Supporters, in particular UDF and BJP, began to flock to the city of Palakkad from distant places such as Mavelikara, Pattambi, Kasaragod, Kannur and Malampuzha near Monday morning, adding to the loaded atmosphere.
The BJP candidate, C Krishnakumar, launched a Mammoth Roadshow at 2:30 p.m. from Melamari – the epicenter of BJP -RS activities in Palakkad. His cavalcade, followed by a kilometer bikers procession decorated with saffron and green, injured through Chunnambuthara, Jainimedu, Puthur, Valiyapadam and the Pontage de Manali, finally reaching the Stade bus behaves around 5:30 am. The rally avoided the narrow roads of the Kalpathy to ensure a timely arrival at the municipal bus stand, designated as the scene of Kalashakottu.
The BJP candidate, C Krishnakumar, launched a Mammoth Roadshow from Melamari – the epicenter of BJP -RS activities in Palakkad. Photo: Albin Mathew
Krishnakumar was joined by the Vice-President of the State of the BJP, Sobha Surendran, while the president of the state of the BJP, K Surendran, arrived separately in a Jeep, mixing with the crowd. The rally also saw the participation of the BJP advisers in Palakkad, despite their reputation for internal divisions.
UDF’s candidate Rahul Mamkoottathil, accompanied by the former deputy for Palakkad and the current deputy for Vadakara Shafi Parambil, started their roadshow at 2:30 p.m. Olavakkode near the junction of Palakkad station. The event caused significant disadvantages, leaving traffic to stop for almost an hour and moving slowly afterwards, disturbing the commuters who go to take their trains.
UDF candidate Rahul Mamkoottathil, accompanied by the former deputy for Palakkad and the current MP for Vadakara, Shafi Parambil, started his roadshow from Olavakkode near the junction of Palakkad station. Photo: Albin Mathew
The UDF rally went through Perumkara, Mercy College, Thirunellai, KSRTC Bus Stand, IMA and Niranjan Road, before converging on Stadium Road around 5.30 p.m.
The president of the state of the congress, K Sudhakaran, the candidate of the UDF of Chelakkara, Ramya Haridas, the president of the State of the Youth League Sayyid Munavvar Ali Shihab Thangal, and the secretary general PK Firos, the actor and member of the Congress Ramesh Pisharody, Sandep Varier, who was a member of the BJP state committee VT was one of the leaders who joined Mamkoottathil in Kalashikottu.
The latest show on the LDF route has started since the surroundings of the Victoria College government and continued with the HEAD post office, Tharekkad and Sultanpet Junction, and reached the stadium bus stand.
The independent candidate of LDF, P Sarin, interacts with the supporters. Photo: Albin Mathew
His independent candidate P Sarin was flanked by CPM chiefs Ak Balan and the district secretary of CPM Palakkad, Enh Suresh Babu, and Minister Mb Rajesh in his open jeep.
An election of personality and turnover cults
Personality cults and reversals have taken the spotlight, while problems and ideologies have taken a rear seat in the Palakkad by -election campaign. When the three fronts declared their candidates, major upheavals took place within each.
Rahul Mamkoottathil was accused of being a Shafi Parambil candidate. The veteran chief of the Congress K Muraleedharan, a potential candidate, felt deserved and first moved away from the campaign. A head of the basic congress left and submitted his appointment document, but then withdrew from the elections at the request of the candidate of the LDF Sarin.
Sarin, himself a turnover, was appointed candidate of the LDF one day after having left the head of the Kerala media cell in Congress after being refused the Palakkad ticket. During the campaign, the CPM faced a massive public revolt of party committees against the authoritarian regime of its district secretary.
A poster of the Sobha SURENDRAN BJP would have been burnt down by the supporters of Krishnakumar after having emerged that she was a potential candidate in Palakkad. However, the BJP managed to keep its internal problems under the wraps until the sudden exit of Sandeep vary strikes the party like a blue bolt.
In the last stages, the attack of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan against the president of the state of the IUML, Sydikali Shihab Thangal, dominated the spotlight. The UDF rippied, alleging that the CPM spoke the language of the BJP-RSS. The president of the state of the BJP, K. Surendran, also weighed, saying that Sadikali was not beyond criticism. Vijayan said Sadikali was a follower of “Jamaat-E-Islami”, which the CPM described as the mirror image of RSS. The chief minister targeted the Supremo Iuml, in particular after a discontented spokesman for the BJP joined the Congress and met Sadikali in Panakkad.
Admittedly, CPM had initially deployed the red carpet for Sandeep vary after its public problems with party leadership. Ak Balan, member of the CPM central committee, even congratulated him as a man with a “crystalline” character. But the congress managed to organize a coup and inducted it in their fold.
Within the BJP, the Moothan community, which has always been one of the most faithful supporters of the RSS-BJP, expressed its dissatisfaction with the candidacy of C Krishnakumar. The community has five advisers in the municipality of Palakkad. Krishnakumar is suspected of having played a role in the abolition of Priya Ajayan, a member of the Moothan community, from the post of president last December.
The candidate of the BJP C Krishnakumar posing with supporters after having held a meeting with the leaders of the Moothan Service Society in Muthanthara in Palakkad. Photo: Onmanorama / George Poikayil
On Monday, November 18, the last day of the public campaign, Krishnakumar spent a lot of time at the Moothan Service Society office in Moothanthara. The leaders of the Moothan community told Onmanorama that even if they were not satisfied with the party, they would follow the leadership of the RSS. The first Shakha of RSS at Kerala was created in Moothanthara by members of the community in 1944.
The leaders added that the release of Sandeep vary, whose mother is a member of the Moothan community, would have no significant effect on the elections. On the last day of the campaign, the BJP managed to unite all its dissidents in support of Krishnakumar.
Ten days before the elections, the BJP and the LDF were left to the red face when the Kerala police went down to the hotel rooms of the managers of the USMAN Shanimol Congress and Bindu Krishnan, in search of non -recognized money. While the raids took place in the middle of the night, the CPM and BJP workers gathered in front of the hotel, raising slogans against the UDF. The police did not find anything in the rooms, and the BJP and the CPM were dragged on social networks by the UDF.
On Monday, the three fronts focused on the issue of false vote, accusing each other to add false voters to the list. The LDF, led by AK Balan, organized a demonstration before the Collectorate, Rajesh declaring that the LDF would approach the high court of the voters of false, whatever the results of the elections. The congress, one of the first parties to file a written complaint concerning the false vote, accused the candidate of the LDF and the district president of the BJP of holding double votes. The BJP, in turn, alleged that the UDF had added false voters to the list.
In the end, the problems of Paddy producers, the lack of human resources in the colleges of medicine and the paralysis of governance in the municipality have remained simple notes in the campaign.
