Alappuzha: It pays to start at a low base, whether it's for the stock of a business entity or that of a political formation. The United Democratic Front must have realised it by now, to their pleasant surprise, given the way its leaders gush at the people's response they claim, Padayorukkam, the month-long yatra led by opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, has elicited in 105 of the 140 constituencies it has traversed in the last 23 days. And they hope it will herald their preparation for the next Lok Sabha elections which they reassure each one, and the people, will end up in the coronation of their leader Rahul Gandhi as prime minister.
Mr Chennithala started the yatra on November 1 at one of the most inauspicious occasions for the UDF: the Vengara assembly byelection had considerably depleted its confidence despite a win; and the contents of the Justice G. Sivarajan Commission that probed the solar scam had painted the top leadership of the UDF, especially of the Congress, in black. The LDF looked an invincible political force and it had hoped to consolidate its gains when it called a special session of the Assembly on November 9 to place the commission report and the action taken report. That day will be the nemesis of the UDF, it claimed.
But three weeks later, the UDF is a confident bunch. Leaders of the UDF constituents, from revolutionaries N.K. Premachandran of the RSP and C.P. John of the CMP to Johny Nelloor of the Kerala Congress (Jacob) and V.K. Ibrahim Kunju of the Muslim League cannot help erupt at the people's response. While Mr Premachandran and Mr John, once part of the LDF, tear into the discomfiture of the LDF with its internal strife, the others take on the failures of the government, especially on the rise in price of essential commodities, rice taking the cake.
Sachin Pilot, who flew in from Rajasthan to inaugurate the meet in Alappuzha insists that there will be a Congress chief minister in Rajasthan in 12 monthsand there will be Congress prime minister at the centre in 18 months, much to the delight of the Congress supporters. The NDA answers questions on jobs and economic betterment by whipping up religious passion, he points out.
And the denouement comes with Mr Chennithala, now often being ushered onto the stage on the shoulders of his supporters, listing the reasons for the response: people suffer thanks to the policies of the central and state governments. GST and demonetisation by the Centre have made the people poor, and the insensitive state government watches their misery with no mitigating measures. "The response is much beyond our expectation," Mr Chennithala told DC. "The people come out in their thousands to register their protest against the governments at the Centre and the state."
