“Finding Nemo(m)” had been the most popular meme in Kerala last week. It was about the Congress party's long search for a ‘suitable face’ for the Nemom constituency. The search assumed significance because Nemom was the first-ever constituency in Kerala captured by the BJP and is often called “the Gujarat of Kerala” by BJP leaders.
And the search finally zeroed in on K. Muraleedharan, son of former chief minister K. Karunakaran. Muraleedharan is currently a Lok Sabha MP from Vadakara constituency. The BJP has fielded former BJP party president Kummanam Rajasekharan and the CPI(M) has fielded M. Sivankutty, who had lost in the 2016 election. With Muraleedharan's entry, Nemom has become one of the most keenly watched contests among the 140 constituencies in the state.
Nemom had caught national attention in 2016 when the BJP opened its account for the first time in the state. O. Rajagopal, the senior-most leader in the state unit, captured the constituency with a decent margin of 8,671 votes over the CPI(M) candidate, who came second. The UDF candidate had come a distant third in the contest, and the CPI(M) had put the blame for the BJP victory squarely on the Congress.
“It did take an unusually long time to find the right candidate because we wanted a strong leader who is capable of defeating the BJP. K. Muraleedharan fits the bill perfectly,” Congress leader Mullappalli Ramachandran said about the decision. “We are confident that he would win the seat for the Congress,” he added.
It was evident that the Congress wanted to send a strong signal to the voters that it is the party to take on the aggressive BJP in the state. It also wanted to ward off the allegations that it was instrumental in BJP's victory in 2016. The Congress had considered many senior leaders including former chief minister Oommen Chandy, leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor for the constituency. But none of them were willing to take the plunge as the seat is quite risky if one goes by the previous elections.
The baton was finally thrust upon Muraleedharan, who had won the Vadakara constituency, a left bastion, for the party in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. His entry has certainly invigorated the Congress workers in the constituency and has also created a buzz in the whole state.
“I am fighting this election on behalf of my party to snatch it from the hands of the BJP. And I am confident about that,” Muraleedharan told THE WEEK.
But the ground realities and the previous election track records are not in favour of the party. The Congress party network in Nemom had been quite inactive for quite a while in Nemom,whereas the BJP had been aggressively focussing its activities in Nemom. The recently held local body elections also are a bad reminder to the Congress party where it had failed to win even a single ward in Nemom constituency.
“The only leader worth the name was Vijayan Thomas and he has now joined the BJP. The party's election committee office used to function from his house,” Sasidharan Nair, a local Congress leader said. But he expressed hope that Muraleedharan's arrival will change the game in favour of the Congress.
This hope was shared by other Congress activists too. “The UDF lost last time miserably because the seat was given to a minor ally. But with Muraleedharan's entry, the scene has changed. We will be able to put up a strong fight this time,” said K.S. Radakrishnan, another local leader.
The fact that Kummanam Rajasekharan, the BJP nominee, does not have the popularity of Rajagopal is something the Congress pegs its hopes on.
And that is indeed a matter of worry for the BJP. But the party is trying to overcome this with strong cadre work. “Nemom is a BJP bastion with a strong network. We have no worries no matter whoever comes to contest here,” said Kummanam Rajasekharan. According to him, Muraleedharan's candidature is of no significance to the BJP’s prospects.
Similar confidence was shared by S. Suresh, BJP district leader. “Muraleedharan may get media space for the Congress. But he will have no impact in a constituency like Nemom,” he said. He pointed out the fact that even when Shashi Tharoor won the Thiruvananthapuram constituency in Lok Sabha elections in 2019, Nemom constituency had favoured the then BJP candidate Kummanam Rajasekharan, who had a lead of 12,041 votes over Tharoor in Nemom.
The CPI(M), on the other hand, is hopeful that a strong triangular contest will be good for the prospects of the party. “The BJP won last time because the Congress shifted its vote in favour of O. Rajagopal. That will not happen this time,” said Sivankutty.
Other CPI(M) leaders also expressed confidence that CPI(M) would win if there is no “deal” between the Congress and the BJP. “Muraleedharan is all hype without any ground. He can do no wonders in a place where the Congress is nowhere in picture,” said CPI(M)’s A.A. Rahim.
He pointed out the fact that the Congress had not won even a single division in the local body polls held in December 2020. BJP had won the 14 of the 23 divisions of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, which falls under Nemom while the CPI(M) had won the remaining 9.
“If Muraleedharan is that confident, let him contest this election after resigning the MP post,'' said Rahim.
Regardless of whether Muraleedharan will do that or not, Nemom is going to be one of the most watched triangular contests in the state.
Data points
· Congress leader N. Sakthan had won from the Nemom Assembly constituency in the 2001 and 2006 Assembly polls.
· In 2011, CPI(M) candidate V. Sivankutty got 42.99 per cent of the votes, defeating Rajagopal whose share was 37.49 per cent. The UDF’s candidate at the time, the Socialist Janata (Democratic) Party’s Charupara Ravi, got only 17.38 per cent of the polled votes.
· In 2016 Assembly polls, when the UDF vote share fell further to 9.7 per cent, the CPI(M) got 44 per cent.
· BJP had won 14 of the 23 divisions of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, which falls under Nemom, while the CPI(M) had won the remaining 9 in 2020 local body polls.