Thiruvananthapuram: Just a day ago the UDF leaders were dismissive of the BJP's potential to hurt the front's chances. But on Tuesday, during the post-poll stock-taking conducted by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), Congress's Thrissur candidate T N Prathapan expressed deep concern over the impact his BJP rival and actor Suresh Gopi would have on the results.
Congress sources are quick to point out that Prathapan was not trying to say that Suresh Gopi would win. Not even the BJP expects this to happen, a Congress leader said. “His fear is that Suresh Gopi, by taking away the Nair votes, might have helped CPI's Rajaji Mathew Thomas to steal the race,” the Congress leader said.
At the KPCC meeting, Prathapan had spoken of deep undercurrents that had developed in Thrissur after Suresh Gopi was chosen as the candidate. He was referring to the Hindu consolidation that the RSS had possibly achieved in the name of Sabarimala. Besides Thiruvananthapuram and Pathanamthitta, Thrissur is the other constituency where the Sabarimala controversy had acquired some traction. The cultural capital of the state has a predominantly Hindu tilt; over 50 per cent of its population is Hindu. Even RSS sources say that it was in Thrissur that its cadres were the most committed after Thiruvananthapuram.
Before Suresh Gopi was named, Tushar Vellappally was expected to be the NDA candidate in Thrissur. Had Tushar been the challenger, it was felt that Prathapan could have easily won sitting at home. But Rahul Gandhi's arrival changed things. Tushar was asked to contest against Rahul and the former superstar was introduced in Thrissur. From then on, forget sitting comfortably at home, Prathapan found it hard to get a good night's sleep.
There were reasons why Prathapan started losing his sleep. During the KPCC meeting on Tuesday, Prathapan said the RSS had unleashed an undercover campaign that attempted to turn the upper caste Hindus against him. “This was done so subtly, especially through family meetings, that the Congress noticed it very late. Prathapan's fear is that by then even the support of NSS might have been of no use to him,” the Congress leader said.
Nonetheless, KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran has confidently brushed aside Prathapan's concerns. “There are no undercurrents except for the ones against the BJP and the CPM. You will realise this when the results are out,” Mullappally Ramachandran said. He said the UDF would sweep all the 20 seats. “Of course, we admit that fight was tough in some seats but eventually we will prevail,” he said after the KPCC meet.
Sources in the Congress said the party considers Thrissur, Alathur, Kasaragod, Attingal and Palakkad as the constituencies where it would be close to call. The KPCC meet had ruled out a BJP win in any of the constituencies.
“Our big advantage was that we had fielded the most suitable candidates in all the constituencies,” he said. “Again, this was one election we did not have to face anti-incumbency. At the Centre it was the BJP and here in the state it was the CPM-led government. The anger against both these governments are enough to see us through,” he said.
Even while sounding supremely confident, the KPCC chief also said the LDF government had misused the state machinery to subvert the election process. “They used booth level officers, deputy tehsildars and policemen affiliated to their feeder organisations to scuttle the election process,” Mullappally said. He said that over 10 lakh voters had their names taken off the list without even a notice.
According to him, the elections were rigged mostly in the northern parts of the state. The KPCC chief said he had set up a committee led by senior Congress leader and Irukkur MLA K C Joseph to conduct sittings in Kannur and Kasaragod to collect evidence against the LDF government's actions that compromised the free and fair nature of polls. The sitting in Kannur will be held on May 17. On May 18, the committee will be in Kasaragod.