THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: By his own admission, Punalur was not a constituency Muslim League leader and Kollam-based businessman Yunus Kunju had preferred. Instead of Eravipuram or Karunagapally Yunus Kunju, a former MLA, felt he was dumped in some alien land.
The Congress leadersfelt the move will give two-time winner K Raju of CPI an easy walkover. Raju had begun his campaign even before Kunju’s candidature was announced. His local roots put Kunju at a further disadvantage.
Kunju’s capitalist ('muthalali') tag also seemed to weigh him down. Punalur is a Left bastion where the CPI had won 10 out of the 13 Assembly elections held since 1957. It almost looked like a no contest.
However, instead of running away from the ‘muthalali’ tag, Yunus Kunju is attempting to make it appealing. While Raju has put in place a steady campaign that speaks mostly about his achievements with no mention of the opposition, Yunus Kunju stridently attacks Raju’s development claims.
“Water for Kollam and Alappuzha districts are taken from the Kallada dam but the places near the dam do not have drinking water. The roads in itself are enough to puncture CPI's grand claims,” he said.
Kunju also said that he was surprised at how familiar he was with the Punalur electorate. “Wherever I go, people know me. They know what I have done for the education of poor girls through my engineering colleges,” he said.
