KASARGOD: The Congress is fighting for survival in Uduma in Kasargod district where party strongman K. Sudhakaran will take on CPM sitting MLA K. Kunjiraman. The Congress has been in decline in the district in the past, but it got a shot in the arm in the last local body elections when the UDF wrested the Uduma panchayat from the CPM after a gap of 25 years. Also, in the last Parliament elections, UDF candidate T. Sidique had a majority of 897 votes in Uduma.
Of the five Assembly seats in the district, Congress is contesting in three-Thrikaripur, Uduma and Kanjangad-which are LDF sitting seats. Manjeshwaram and Kasargod are held by the IUML. The Congress is at the mercy of its ally, IUML, in all respects. It is a straight fight between the IUML and the CPM in three seats and triangular in Manjeshwaram and Kasargod involving the BJP.
The decline of the Congress in the district is evident from the fact that it has only four grama panchayats of the total 38 and IUML has 12 grama panchayats in its kitty.
DCC president C.K. Sreedharan refused to comment on the plight of his party and said, “it’s not a contest between the UDF allies but against the LDF and the BJP. This is not the time to weigh the merits and demerits of the allies but put up a strong fight against the rivals,” he said.
The weakness of the Congress could be gauged from the setback it suffered in east Eleri grama panchayat, a Congress fort till the last local polls. A section came out of the Congress before the polls and formed the Democratic Development Front (DDF), which won 10 of the total 16 seats and captured the panchayat.
