Battle to heat up after Vishu festival

Thiruvananthapuram: The election campaign which remained listless even after finalisation of the candidates of major political parties and was even suspended for a day following the horrific Paravur temple fire tragedy, is set to pick up after Vishu.

Major political fronts UDF, LDF and BJP led NDA have drawn up a detailed campaign plan for the second leg which is going to witness aggressive electioneering for almost a month.  While the three fronts making claims and counter claims, it isn’t going to be an easy task to woo the highly conscious voter of the state.

“We took the lead in finalising the candidates for all constituency and that has given us an added advantage. Our campaign will pick up after April 20 and reach a high point early next month,” said LDF Convenor Vaikom Viswan. The UDF claimed that barring certain hiccups in five constituencies, the candidate selection process had been successful. “We are going to launch an aggressive campaign after Vishu. So far the response of the people has been very good,” said Congress leader P C Vishnunath, MLA.

The BJP on the other hand is also fully geared up for a full fledged campaign.  Apart from its list of candidates, the constituents like BDJS and other smaller parties have also finalised their candidates.

During the second leg of campaign, the LDF is going to aggressively focus on the corruption issue and all round failure of the UDF Government. “This government is neck deep in corruption and people want them out at the earliest,” said Vaikom Viswan.

Vishnunath believes that the negative campaign of LDF would not work. “Oommen Chandy government has brought development, taken unprecedented steps in social sector , give free rice. Such pro-people initiatives will see us through,” he added.