Opposite the CPI(M) local committee office at Plavoor in Kattakada is a restroom for women travellers that incumbent MLA, I.B. Satheesh has opened in a bid to transform Kattakada into a women-friendly constituency.
Plavoor is Mr. Satheesh’s home ground. He knows many people by name, and often walks into houses to greet voters and inquire about their health and welfare.
Confident
The Left Democratic Front candidate, Mr. Satheesh is confident of victory in the constituency. “People will see what difference this government made to their everyday life. Despite so many challenges faced by the State, no one has had to go hungry; pensions have reached the people uninterrupted. ” he says.
UDF’s Malayinkeezhu Venugopal
The man behind the celebrated Jalasamruddhi project, Mr. Satheesh alleges a deliberate bid to confuse the people that the project pertains to piped water supply at election time.
Mr. Satheesh says his strategy is to take a long-term perspective on projects.Land acquisition for the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University headquarters has been completed, he insists, adding only the payments need to be made.
Squeezing in time between an election committee meeting and meeting key voters, United Democratic Front candidate Malayinkeezhu Venugopal pooh-poohs the LDF’s development claims. It is all propaganda, he alleges.
Despite the so-called achievements of Jalasamruddhi, people continue to face acute drinking water scarcity. A plant started during the UDF government tenure in Vilavoorkkal has not been functioning properly, and the Maranalloor drinking water project has remained stalled for the past five years.
A gimmick
Jalasamruddhi is essentially a public relations gimmick, he claims.Mr. Venugopal alleges Mr. Satheesh has not helped catalyse projects. In the case of KTU headquarters, the price of land has not been decided or money paid to the landowners, but the government has gone ahead with the inauguration.
NDA’s P. K. Krishnadas
“People will judge me for the work I did here as block panchayat and district panchayat member and how I was able to help them. I’m confident we can win with a good margin,” says Mr. Venugopal. At the Bharatiya Janata Party election office in Kattakada town, P.K. Krishnadas who is set to meet key voters before embarking on his road show says his plea to voters is to cast their votes keeping in the mind the developments in the constituency in the past 10 years.
A chance for BJP
“It is time to give the BJP a chance, time to vote for change,” he says.
Mr. Krishnadas denounces the Jalasamruddhi project, criticises the inauguration of the KTU headquarters when ‘no land has been acquired,’ and despairs of the court complex work. Making a crack at the deplorable state of interior roads in the constituency, he says water can be harvested on them.
Rubbishing the outsider argument and the allegation that he resurfaced in the constituency only some six months ago, Mr. Krishnadas is confident his vote share will increase much more this time around and see him coast to victory.