Thiruvananthapuram: The charismatic Shashi Tharoor, 63, of the Congress can no longer hope for a cakewalk in the Thiruvananthapuram constituency with the CPI fielding C. Divakaran, 76, from there. The BJP also will try to give a surprise by bringing in Mizoram Governor Kummanam Rajasekharan to the electoral battlefield. In that case, sparks are bound to fly in the bitter clash that will follow.
If the BJP votes go up, it would help the Left camp and make things difficult for Tharoor. He had won the seat in 2009 with a huge margin of 99, 998 votes, but it was reduced to 14, 501 in 2014 in the face of the Modi wave, the ‘Nadar’ card played by CPI’s Bennett Abraham and the stiff fight put up by BJP’s O. Rajagopal. Many Congress leaders consider Tharoor, who is comfortable only in English, as an outsider though he talks well in Malayalam. But Tharoor is unperturbed due to his clout in the party hierarchy and the development card he flashes. However, the Congress is wary of C. Divakaran and his ability to win elections. A senior Congress leader told DC that Divakaran has excellent rapport with the CPM leadership which will prove to be crucial during the campaign.
“The CPI had packed Div-akaran off to Karunaga-pally constituency in the 2011 Assembly election ho-ping for his defeat, but he won. In the 2016 Assembly elections, Divakaran won from Nedumangad. He has an uncanny knack to fight against heavy odds and will be a threat to Tharoor and the BJP candidate,” he said.
RSS state secretary/ prantha karyavahak P. Gopalankutty Master told DC that the central BJP leadership had promised to bring him back Kummanam to his home state after a few months. “The people, BJP and RSS workers in Thir-uvananthapuram district want Kummanam as a parliamentarian. We hope that Kummanam will make a grand entry to Thiruvananthapuram,” said Mr Gopalankutty Master.
