Kerala political battle heats up in three-cornered contest for Thiruvananthapuram Corporation polls

By Arun Jayan
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], December 7 : As the campaigning for the first phase of local body polls for five districts has ended, the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation is witnessing a triangular fight for the elections to be held on December 8.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) that managed to win the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation with 43 seats in 2015 is trying to retain it, while BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which finished second last time with 35 seats is putting all efforts to wrest it from the Left.
On the other hand, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is focusing to improve its tally to overcome the major upset of finishing a distant third with 21 seats, last time. This time, the BJP is part of the NDA alliance it formed as a pre-run to the Kerala Assembly polls in May and the party is hopeful to clinch the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.
Speaking to ANI, BJP state president K Surendran said that there is a strong pro-Modi wave across Kerala and BJP would win Thiruvananthapuram Corporation among others.
"People of Kerala by and large have accepted the development agenda of Narendra Modi ji. They are fed up with the corrupt LDF and UDF and are looking for an alternative. Not only in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, this time we will win more local bodies," he said.
Stating that BJP would emerge as the 'Black Horse' in local body polls, BJP state president said that the NDA is a major contender in the polls.
"Both LDF and UDF are trying to create communal polarisation to win votes. When LDF is carrying out campaign to turn Muslim minorities against BJP, UDF is fighting polls with a tie-up with communal parties like Jamaat-e-Islami even in the constituency of Rahul Gandhi (Congress leader) in Wayanad," said Surendran.
Gold Smuggling case to Life Mission scam against LDF and corruption cases against UDF MLAs are major poll plank for the NDA.
Whereas, the Left is betting high on welfare measures it carried out including free distribution of food kits and are using farmers' protest to privatisation move of Thiruvananthapuram Airport as a political weapon against the NDA.
Both the NDA and LDF are using the tie-up with Jamaat-e-Islami to question secular credentials of UDF, which is raising probe by the central investigation agencies to turn the table against LDF.
Minister Kadakampally Surendran who is in charge of the state capital said that LDF would surpass the absolute majority in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation and BJP would lose seats at this time.
"The political stand taken by all three fronts is a topic of discussion in the local body elections. The UDF and the BJP are Siamese twins when it comes to people's issues and Left will be able to improve its tally to get a comfortable majority in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. The success run of Left will continue in local body polls," he said.
UDF is also hopeful to improve its stakes in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation and clinch a victory. KPCC President Mullappally Ramachandran alleged that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan did not appear in public or even on campaign posters, since he has nothing to say about the development achievements of the Left government.
"Fearing a UDF win, the CPI(M) is playing a communal card. The Chief Minister's announcement that there will be continuity power is the biggest joke Kerala has heard in recent times. The CPI (M) for a long time embrace minority-majority communalism when its own base is shaken," alleged Ramachandran.
He said the voters would reject CPI (M) that portrays anti-CPI (M) parties as "communal forces and glorifies them if they cooperate with the CPI (M)."
Thiruvananthapuram will go to polls in the first phase on December 8 along with Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Idukki.