THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kasaragod is set to witness a pitched battle for the Lok Sabha elections with the intense churning occurring there in the wake of the murders of two Youth Congress workers, Sarath Lal and Kripesh, the other day.
The Congress has sensed a golden chance emerging to wrest the seat from the CPM banking on the rising tide of resentment among the voters against the killings.
The odds are apparently packed against the Congress as Kasaragod has remained a Left bastion. The last time a Congress candidate won from there was in 1984 when I. Rama Rai defeated CPM’s E. Balanandan. Later, CPM's Ramana Rai (1989 & 1991), T. Govindan (1996, 1998 & 1999) and P. Karunakaran (2004, 2009, 2014 LS elections) were elected.
KPCC leadership has over the last several years fielded Muslim candidates (T. Siddique, Shahida Kam-al and N. A. Mohammed) from the seat. The BJP, which plays the caste card, fields a Hindu candidate.
Senior Congress leader K. Sudhakaran told DC that this time the party may field a non-Muslim candidate. “With the brutal killings of the two youths with the connivance of the Kannur CPM lobby headed by P. Jayarajan, the situation is turning against it. The Kannur CPM lobby has taken political violence across the neighbouring district too,” said Mr Sudhakaran who had contested from Uduma Assembly seat unsuccessfully in 2016.
Over two dozen local CPM leaders have disowned the murder politics and would join the Congress, he claimed. The CPM’s murder politics will boomerang on it across the state, he said.
The Congress hopefuls for Kasaragod seat include Mr B. Subbaiah Rai and Ms Jebi Mather. Mr Subbaiah is the son of former Congress MP Rama Rai and son-in-law of former CPM MP Ramanna Rai. Ms Jebi, 40, is the national secretary of Indian Youth Congress and has the advantage of being a Muslim. She was also a two-time municipal councillor from Aluva and comes from an illustrious Congress background. Her maternal grandfather was former KPCC president T. O. Bava and paternal grandfather K. C. A. Methar was the KPCC treasurer. Her father K. M. I. Mather is the KPCC general secretary.
The Congress candidate will be decided only after the bilateral talks with the UDF allies on February 26.
