Thiruvananthapuram: Congress Working Committee member A.K. Antony will start his campaign for the United Democratic Front candidates from Kasargod from May 1.
He will cover all districts during the whirlwind campaign which will end with a road show in Thiruvananthapuram on May 14, the last day of electioneering. With Opposition Leader V.S. Achuthnanadan taking various districts by storm, the United Democratic Front, particularly the Congress, is banking heavily on Mr Antony to turn the tide.
Many UDF insiders feel that Mr Antony is the one who could lead the electoral battle effectively against the Left Democratic Front than Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran as he has a clean image and also is the tallest leader in the front.
During the last elections also, the last day of the campaign had seen a road show led by Mr Antony in the coastal areas of Thiruvananthapuram district which fetched good results for the UDF.
Sources said that the upper hand the United Democratic Front got by pulling out the liquor prohibition agenda in the first phase of the campaign had slowly faded with VS coming out with an all-out attack on the UDF government.
Though the UDF has been focussing on the development initiatives taken by the government in the past five years to retain power, it faced a volley of allegations, especially those related to solar scam and bar bribery and land assignment issues. These have been highlighted by VS during his campaign which he kickstarted from Kasargod on April 20.
It was in background of such allegations that the party wanted Mr Antony to lead the fight. The high command also wanted him to be in the forefront as Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi viewed him as the tallest leader of the Congress in the state.
