Modi held a roadshow and devoted a good part of his campaign speech in this Kerala town to talk about the sexual assault allegations two local Congress leaders are battling. It is another matter that the Congress has ousted both: the sitting MLA and a local councillor.
The Congress, which always occupied a pole position in electoral contests in the constituency sitting at the foothills of Western Ghats and on the Tamil Nadu border, is
It has fielded a familiar face, actor Ramesh Pisharody (44) counting on the traditional Hindu votes and those of Muslims, and on the clout of Vatakara MP Shafi Parambil, who has established his own influence here as a three-time MLA in the past.
Giving the Congress-led UDF a tight fight is BJP’s Sobha Surendran (51). She is the chief reason for Modi to do a roadshow in the town as Palakkad is one of the handful of seats the BJP has hopes of scooping up.
Palakkad is one of 36 A-class constituencies identified by the BJP in Kerala. An A-class constituency is where the BJP got between 30,000 and 40,000 votes in one of the previous assembly polls.
In the past, the Congress and the CPI(M)-led LDF played a secular brotherhood here, successfully preventing the BJP from winning. This time, however, the Congress feels betrayed after the CPI(M) backed a wealthy businessman, NMR Razakh, who is contesting as an independent. Congress veteran VD Satheesan calls this an example of a blatant underhand deal between the CPI(M) and the BJP to help each other in some constituencies to spoil the Congress chances. Razakh, the Congress fears, would split the Muslim votes, bolstering the BJP’s chances.In 2021, Congress’ Shafi Parambil won over Metro Man, BJP’s E Sreedharan, by only about 3,800 votes. Ten years ago, when Sobha Surendran first tried her luck here, she lost but not before elevating the party’s vote share from 20% to 29%. Sreedharan further lifted it to 35%, a sign of BJP’s growing influence in a constituency comprising the town and three panchayats in the vicinity.
Over the past two decades, Surendran has been active in electoral politics, contesting both assembly and Lok Sabha elections, and has stood out by consistently increasing the party’s vote share in constituencies she contested. A fiery orator, and a champion of women’s rights, she has set sight on women votes.
‘Kuttan’ Suresh, who runs a small eatery in Kalpathy, a heritage village in Palakkad famous for its annual temple festivals and cultural programmes, said former MLA Parambil still held his sway on voters and could turn the tide even in the Tamil Brahimin-dominated Kalpathy and surrounding agraharams.
Sections of the CPI(M) are upset that their party, though ruling for 10 years now, has opted to back an independent instead of fielding one of them.
