Bineesh (name changed on request) joined his friends in an unusual protest march organised by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) workers and sympathisers in Kuttiadi town in Kozhikode district in the first week of March.
They demanded the party should take back the Kuttiadi Assembly constituency that was given to Kerala Congress (Mani), a new entrant to the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
The protests hogged limelight as it was quite uncommon in CPM, a cadre party that never tolerates indiscipline. But the workers’ protests worried the party leadership, though it repeatedly said the decision will not be revoked. When things appeared to go out of control, the Kerala Congress (Mani) decided to forgo the seat on Sunday, apparently at the insistence of the CPM leadership.
After saving its face from a major embarrassment, the CPM fielded its local strongman KP Kunhammed Kutty on Monday to take on United Democratic Front (UDF)’s incumbent MLA Parakkal Abdulla of the Indian Union Muslim League.
Kunhammed is a teacher by profession. He voluntarily retired from service to plunge into active politics. He had served as the presidents of Kuttiadi gram panchayat and Kozhikode district panchayat. He is at present Kozhikode district secretariat member of the CPM.
Abdulla, a non-resident Keralite businessman, rose to prominence in 2016 when he upstaged two-time MLA and CPM leader K K Lathika by 1,157 votes. Since then, he has been implementing his-own ‘welfare and development’ schemes in Kuttiadi, which even won the approval of his political rivals.
Kit vs Kit
Both the candidates harp on the development and welfare measures to woo the voters.
CPM hopes that the incumbent LDF government’s free food kit distribution and hike in welfare pensions will translate into votes in Kuttiadi and elsewhere.
But kits are not new to Kuttiadi voters. Abdulla has been distributing school kits to 1,700 poor students in the constituency since 2017. He began distributing food and medicine kits to the needy after the COVID-19 lockdown.
The initiatives have benefited most backward sections of the society living in 86 colonies.
Babu C K hails from Vellookara Ambedkar Colony in Thiruvallur gram panchayat. The Scheduled Caste settlement has 48 houses. Around 250 people live here.
Babu’s children have been receiving the MLA’s school kit, comprising a bag, notebooks, pens, pencils and an umbrella, since 2017 and vegetable kits since COVID-19 lockdown.
He has also been receiving the state government’s food kits since lockdown.
“Both the MLA and the government supported us when we did not have any work during the lockdown. I personally want too see the victory of Abdulla and LDF. I will decide whom to vote for later,” he said.
Abdulla’s strategy to concentrate on the development of the colonies will help him get valuable votes that would have gone to the LDF kitty.
“I had launched the project to provide food and medicine to the needy in colonies. My team has been distributing school kits to students from poor families for the last four years. We have spent around Rs 2.5 crore for these initiatives. Many individuals and organisations supported me in this effort,” Abdulla said.
MLA vs Government
Abdulla claims that CPM has been forced to discuss development after his success in 2016.
“Development was never an agenda for CPM when its representatives repeatedly won from this constituency. I am happy that the Communist party is now talking about development,” he said.
Kuttiadi constituency came into existence after the delimitation in 2008.
In the first election in 2011, K K Lathika defeated Soopy Narikkattery of the IUML by 6,972 votes. Abdulla defeated Lathika by 1,157 votes in the next election held in 2016.
Prior to delimitation, the constituency was known as Meppayoor, which had elected prominent CPM leaders like A Kanaran, Mathai Chacko and K K Lathika.
“I have brought in developmental projects worth Rs 700 crore and people are well aware of this,” Abdulla claimed.
But CPM candidate Kunhammed Kutty said the MLA is taking credit for all the works sanctioned by the LDF government. “The LDF government sanctioned all these projects. Why is he taking credit for this?” asked Kutty.
Abdulla countered this saying that an MLA acts as a bridge between the government and the constituency. “Only a proactive MLA could develop a constituency. I am happy to bring in many projects despite being in the opposition for the past five years,” he said.
Former MLA K K Lathika alleged that Abdulla could not bring the much-awaited coconut park to Kuttiadi. “He did not do anything for the farmers, though the government launched a lot of schemes for them,” she said.
Immediately after the CPM announced his candidature, Kunhammed Kutty began attending small neighbourhood gatherings to catch up with Abdulla, who launched his campaign a few weeks ago.
On Thursday, Kunhammed Kutty visited Kallumbram Colony in Kunnummal gram panchayat, where he urged voters to elect him to ensure a second term for Pinarayi Vijayan’s government.
His speech has enthused party workers in the colony.
“My heart had almost broken when I heard that the Kerala Congress (Mani) candidate would contest from Kuttiadi. Now I am relieved to see a CPM candidate here. I could not imagine casting my vote to any party other than CPM,” said 56-year-old Leela, who had suffered serious eye injuries during a police assault in 1994. “The party took the workers’ anger seriously,” she said.
Her counterpart, 50-year-old Mallika, a former gram panchayat member, agreed. “Kunhammed Kutty’s candidature has energised the party cadres. We will ensure his victory,” she said.
Did protests change party stand?
CPM workers and sympathisers who took part in the protests felt happy that the party addressed their concern and got the seat back from Kerala Congress (Mani).
“It is a big victory. We could correct the party leadership,” said Ajayan (name changed on request).
But Kunhammed Kutty rejected suggestions that the protests forced the party leadership to announce his candidature.
“The protests were spontaneous. The party leadership took note of them, but I don’t think the decision to field me was taken because of them,” he said.
However, he refused to reveal the reason behind his candidature. “I cannot reveal it to you. CPM is a cadre party that adheres to the decisions taken by the leadership,” he said.
He said protests were a thing of the past and his aim is to register a win. “We will win Kuttiadi for LDF,”he said.
Gulf factor
More than 10,000 voters in Kuttiadi work in the Arabian Gulf countries of UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.
Abdulla is expected to garner majority of these votes. Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC), the biggest voluntary organisation in the Gulf that is affiliated to the Indian Union Muslim League, is expected to charter flights once again to bring the voters. The outfit had chartered flights during the 2016 Assembly and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Abdulla is the former office-bearer of the Qatar unit of the organisation.
“We have enrolled more than 4,000 non-resident Keralites in the voters list this time. I hope all of them will come and vote for me,” he said.
Edge for UDF
Abdulla appears to enjoy an edge, thanks to UDF’s result-oriented strategies. The coalition has enrolled all potential supporters to the electoral roll and began a grass-root campaign much ahead of the LDF.
The strategy helped UDF make dents in the CPM strongholds in the local body elections held in December 2020.
In the eight gram panchayats that come under Kuttiadi, LDF won 74 seats while UDF got 59 seats. LDF is ruling five gram panchayats while UDF is in power in the remaining three. UDF ruled just one gram panchayat between 2015 to 2020.
What enthused the UDF leadership is the victory in Thiruvallur gram panchayat after a gap of 35 years. “Our strategy worked in other panchayats too,” said Congress leader Aneesh. “We were in power only in Velom earlier. We added two more gram panchayats to our kitty this time. We lost two panchayats by a whisker,” he said.
The Lok Sabha election too augurs well for the UDF. Congress leader K Muraleedharan, who contested from Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency in 2019, had secured a lead of 17,892 votes in Kuttiadi.
“It shows our strength,” said Abdulla.
But Kuhammed Kutty said LDF still enjoys an upper hand in Kuttiadi. “UDF got a huge lead because of people’s misconception that only Congress could take on the BJP. Things have changed now. You should not read too much into the local body poll results, where local issues sway voters. Assembly election is all about political votes,” he said.