Kunhalikutty takes a selfie with a supporter during his campaigning for Malappuram bypoll. Photo: Prem Udayabhanu Malappuram: Amid exchanging pleasantries and obliging to selfies, Pandikadavathu Kunhalikutty makes a brief speech during his hectic poll campaign schedule.
Till Wednesday, the brief speech was mostly about the circumstances which prompted the Indian Union Muslim League to make him contest the Lok Sabha bypoll.
Some references about the BJP-led union government and the threat it poses to the secular concept of the nation and a passing reference to the state government were the contents of the laconic speech.
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But Thursday, Kunhalikutty included another potent weapon in his arsenal – the police atrocity against a mother who lost her son seeking justice against culprits. Pampady Nehru Engineering college student Jishnu Pranoy's body was found in his college hostel creating a flutter in the state. His mother who went to stage a sit-in in front of the state police chief's office was meted out a rough treatment by cops.
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Kunhalikutty knows the emotional quotient of the incident and he is quick to grab that opportunity.
At all the 16 campaign stops his campaign managers have scheduled for him before the afternoon break, he makes sure to refer to the police highhandedness against a bereaved mother.
The rest is left to the adoring masses who fondly call him 'Kunjappa'. For he has to crisscross the constituency to reach every campaign stop – 32 meetings with half of them in the afternoon.
Despite the scorching sun, Kunjappa's joyous motorcade is able to negotiate all the bylanes with ease, thanks to the well-laid roads all over the constituency.
Perhaps that is again the legacy of the IUML, which always held the public works department whenever it was in power.
LDF wary
The alleged mistreatment of Jishnu Pranoy's mother is resonating in the state and in this Lok Sabha constituency, which goes to polls on April 12. This has put the already jittery Left Democratic Front (LDF) on the back foot.
The LDF, which already has a Herculean task of taking on a mighty IUML candidate who is a darling of the masses here, is not seen as a coherent unit, vis-a-vis the polls.
The police high-handedness has also exposed the fissures within the LDF with even CPM leaders airing divergent views. Not all are toeing the CM's line.
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And restive allies are also adding to its woes.
The CPI, the second largest constituent in the LDF, has gone on record about the inept handling of the situation by the police force.
The LDF was already reeling under charges that it could have put up a better candidate.
Then, flaws in the way a lackluster campaign was being steered led to the exit of a key CPM leader as its coordinator.
The replacement, though, is not showing any definite signs of a turnaround.
With CM Pinarayi also in the constituency for the second day on Friday, the LDF hopes to add fizz on the coming days with the arrival of CPM veteran V.S. Achuthanandan.
A VS blitzkrieg would enthuse the cadres no doubt but it could be a bit late to revive its dwindling fortunes in an IUML bastion.
Beef-hit BJP
The BJP camp is also struggling to get out of the vortex of an unnecessary controversy it courted after a comment by its candidate on providing clean beef.
The candidate retracted following peer pressure, but the damage had been done. Again, the saffron outfit is struggling to provide a united face with a senior leader raking up cow slaughter – an issue which the BJP would rather bury it in this part of the country.
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The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), an outfit which got nearly 50,000 votes in the 2014 LS polls, has called for a conscience vote.
Seems, the circumstances are conspiring to shower a jolly ride to Pandikadavathu Kunhalikutty en route to Delhi.
