The Hindu 06.10.2010
High stakes battle on for civic body
Biju Govind
| LDF bid to retain Kozhikode Corporation as UDF makes a late start |
KOZHIKODE: The question that would be answered when the battle for the Kozhikode Municipal Corporation ends would be simple: Will the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), in power consecutively for the last over two decades and with brief intervals even earlier, continue to hold sway over the Corporation for another five years? The LDF is giving its election effort a big heave to ensure that the answer to the question is in the affirmative. The United Democratic Front (UDF), despite the underdog tag that has been its bane all these years, is trying to see if the LDF’s successful run could be halted.
It is a much bigger Corporation that is going to the polls this time with the merger of Elathur, Beypore, and Cheruvannur-Nallalam grama panchayats to the civic body. The three panchayats, under LDF control so far, are expected to strengthen the LDF campaign. The UDF is pinning its hopes on political factors to counter this, the chief among these being the switchover of a major faction of the Janata Dal (Secular), now Socialist Janata (Democratic), and the Indian National League (INL) to the UDF camp and the return of K. Muraleedharan and his supporters to the alliance fold.
The outgoing 55-member Corporation council had witnessed a split in the eight-member Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) and the four-member Janata Dal (Secular). Three DIC(K) councillors had shifted loyalties to the Nationalist Congress Party, one joined the Congress and the remaining four remained with Mr. Muraleedhran, who along with his father, K. Karunakaran, had floated the party. In the case of the JD(S), one of the councillors, Hansa Jayant, had remained in the official faction led by H.D. Deve Gowda and three others had joined the SJ(D) formed by M.P. Veerendrakumar. These changes did increase the numbers in the Opposition ranks, but not enough to cause even a shadow of discomfort to the LDF, which had won 37 wards in 2005, thanks to its tacit understanding with the DIC(K).
Woman Mayor
The contest in the Corporation has also attracted wide attention as this is one of the three Corporations that would have a woman Mayor. The CPI(M) has nominated three potential mayoral candidates, former Member of Parliament A.K. Premajam, who was also Mayor earlier, C.K. Renuka Devi, and Salma Rehman, who was one of the block panchayat presidents in the district. The UDF has fielded former Minister M.T. Padma, but it has been a late start, thanks to woes over seat-sharing and candidate selection.
