Tuesday, March 5, 2013

PANCHAYAT POLL

Development issues to the fore

12th October 2010 07:30 AM




THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Thiruvananthapuram District Panchayat has never welcomed the UDF to its helm.
If that speaks volumes about the way in which the LDF has fought the local body polls over the years, it also tells why the UDF appears better armed and determined this time to take on the opponents.
What is striking about the way the LDF campaign is heading in the district is the manner in which politics has taken a back seat and development issues pushed to the forefront. Even before the declaration of elections, District Panchayat and grama panchayats had brought out souvenirs listing their achievements in the past five years. The fillip that Green Kerala Express, the social reality show, offered was no small thing. Meanwhile, the UDF, still blushing in the landslide victory that Lok Sabha polls offered, expects a repeat and banks on the political climate born out of anti-incumbency.
To rewind the past, in 2005, the LDF had bagged 22 out of the 28 divisions in the District Panchayat. Navaikulam, Anad, Kallara, Kaniyapuram, Parasala and Vellarada had favoured the UDF. This time, with two divisions less after delimitation, LDF hopes to claim 20 divisions. The UDF goes one step further and swears it would win at least 14 divisions. Majority that is. Adv Shailaja Beegum has been portrayed as the president candidate of LDF. She is contesting from Kizhuvilam division which has Panayarathara Laila as the UDF candidate. Kunnathukal from where former president Anavoor Nagappan was elected has N Ratheendran this time.
The big fight for the UDF is happening at Venjaramoodu where its president candidate Remani P Nair is contesting. She had been the District Panchayat member during 2000-05 period when she won from Kallara which had till then remained a Left forte.  Kallara division has already attracted attention with UDF candidate Sughi Rajan’s nomination getting rejected first and then accepted.
‘’It is a play of figures that the LDF has stuck to. The EMS Housing Scheme is yet to reach several panchayats. They have made National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), a Central scheme, their own.  Forty years of CPM rule has taken the district nowhere. It remains a rural jungle, development has not reached many panchayats,’’ said Mudavanmugal Ravi, DCC general secretary.  
The UDF is confident when it trails down to their selection of candidates. The LDF obviously has more reasons to cheer. ‘’We are giving houses to more than 55,000 people under the EMS Housing Scheme. The policies of the State Government has gone a long way in taking our activities to the public. Like giving rice for Rs 2 a kg. Some scheme or other has reached every panchayat, we are sure of it. Where our grassroot machinery has failed, results might differ there,’’ said Anad Chandran,  who represents Thiruvananthapuram in the Kerala Grama Panchayat Association.  Out of the 73 grama panchayats, the LDF is confident of a majority win except in 15 panchayats. But the UDF takes the figures a little high to claim that they will win in nearly 50 panchayats. Amboori, Vizhinjam, Pallichal and the like where political equations had witnessed a change recently are expected to remain loyal to the UDF. Last time, LDF had lost out in 20 panchayats scripting success in the remaining, out of a total 78.
In the 12 block panchayats, CPM had bagged nine and CPI two seats last time. Only Parasala had gone to the UDF. This time, Thiruvananthapuram Rural and Kazhakootam have been deleted and Pothencode added making it a total of 11 block panchayats. Both fronts do not expect any miracles to happen in block panchayats.

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