The BJP, after the Tripura trump card, will go all out to defeat the CPI(M) in Chengannur in the upcoming assembly byelection. The communists have a sizeable presence in the constituency, which comes under the Alappuzha district in south Kerala. An election here was necessitated due to the death of CPI(M) MLA K.K. Ramachandran Nair.
The victory of the BJP in Tripura has charged up its members in Kerala like never before. There are even talks of national president Amit Shah camping in Kerala and monitoring the election to make sure that the fight in Chengannur, against the communists in particular, is in full-throttle. After the Tripura verdict, such was the state of frenzy among the BJP cadre in Kerala that a party worker in Kannur had the audacity to call and threaten Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on phone. He was later arrested and he admitted that he could not control his joy.
The CPI(M) was heavily trolled on social media in Kerala after the loss in Tripura. Many people pointed out how the Communist Party of India had become the Communist Party of Kerala.
Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan said to THE WEEK, “The election in Chengannur will be a mandate against the ruling front in Kerala. The central leadership will provide all help to the state unit to win the election. We will win Chengannur, I am confident.”
Even the Congress has a strong presence in Chengannur. It won the elections here in 2006 and 2011. In the 2016 assembly elections in the constituency, the BJP gave its best performance so far, with its candidate P.S. Sreedharan Pillai getting 42,682 votes.
The CPI(M) won the election with 52,880 votes, defeating P.C. Vishnunath of the Congress, who came second with 44,987 votes. Just 2,000 votes more than Pillai's.
Vishnunath said to THE WEEK, “The BJP will remain in third position even this time. But it will get less votes than it got in 2016. There is heavy infighting in the Kerala unit of the party and none of the leaders are ready to admit it as they are terribly scared of Shah and Narendra Modi.” He said the Congress will win the byelection easily. Vishnunath had informed party president Rahul Gandhi last month that he will not be able to contest in Chengannur bypoll as he is busy handling the party affairs in Karnataka. The UDF, the alliance created by the Congress in Kerala, has fielded D. Vijayakumar as its candidate.
But Pillai has trashed the rumours of infighting in the Kerala BJP. He told THE WEEK, “I am confident that I will win the election in Chengannur. The political atmosphere is in favour of the BJP.” He said the BJP had got only 6,000 votes in the constituency in 2011. “From there we crossed to more than 40,000 votes in 2016. Chengannur was never a strong seat for the BJP, but we did well,” said Pillai, “Even Christians voted for me in 2016, in spite of the opposition labelling the BJP as an anti-minority party.”
Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said to THE WEEK that the CPI(M) will win the election in Chengannur comfortably, “And the Congress will come second. We are not worried about the BJP. It will not make any impact in a state like Kerala.” The CPI(M) has fielded Saji Cherian, the Alappuzha district secretary of the party, as its candidate.
Voters in Chengannur are expecting a good fight that will go down to the wire. “Whoever wins Chengannur will win by a narrow margin. I think, if not first, the BJP will come at least second here,” said Manesh Nair, a government employee.
Meanwhile, the BJP’s central leadership has rewarded its Kerala ally—Bharath Dharma Jana Sena. BDJS is the political offshoot of the SNDP, an organisation that works for the Ezhava community in the state. The BJP had been neglecting the BDJS's demands for more than two years. Apparently, the BDJS had threatened to go alone in Chengannur if it was not given its due share. The BJP will now help BDJS chairman Thushar Vellappally file his nomination papers from Uttar Pradesh for a Rajya Sabha seat. The BDJS is awaiting a final confirmation on it from the BJP. Also, around 14 BDJS leaders have been selected to the director boards of different public sector enterprises in Kerala. All this was done to get the support of the BDJS in Chengannur, where it has a presence.
“We have no issues with the BJP. We will soon announce our support to the BJP candidate in Chengannur,” said Subash Vasu, the national secretary of the BDJS in Kerala. Vasu said the BDJS has strong support in Chengannur. “There are more than 40,000 Ezhava voters in Chengannur, which is our strength. Not just that, the constituency has more than 80,000 Hindu voters,” said Vasu.
There are close to 1,90,000 registered voters in Chengannur. In the 140-member assembly in Kerala, the BJP has only one seat—Nemom in Thiruvananthapuram district—represented by veteran O. Rajagopal.