The Hindu 12.10.2010
Tacit tie-ups, smart moves in Thrissur Corporation
Mini Muringatheri
| Rebel menace makes things hard for UDF, charges of inefficiency dog LDF |
THRISSUR: The Catholic Church has always had a say in the elections to the Thrissur Corporation — in the past 10 years since it became a city Corporation and in the 80 years earlier when it was a municipality. And, the Church has never shied away from asserting ‘its rights and responsibility’ to intervene in politics. So, when it comes to the civic polls, where even minute undercurrents make a lot of difference to the electoral outcome, both the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and United Democratic Front (UDF) take care not to rub the Church the wrong way.
Though the LDF claims that the faithful will not be carried away by the Church’s anti-Left pastoral letters, it has toned down its criticism of the Church of late. Trying to bridge the gap, Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, while addressing a poll campaign here recently, said that though the Church and the Left had irreconcilable differences on some issues, they could cooperate in many areas.
Even while alleging that a section of the Church was pushing the Congress-UDF agenda, he asserted that the action of certain religious leaders could not be considered as the stand of the Church as a whole.
On the other hand, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) district president B. Gopalakrishnan’s statement that in divisions where his party does not have candidates, it may support other suitable candidates has stirred a hornets’ nest. Though both the fronts have denied any secret pact with the BJP, the LDF has entered into an understanding with the rebel BJP group in certain pockets.
When Thrissur was a municipality, it was a UDF bastion. But, after its elevation to the status as a Corporation, both the UDF and LDF have won it once each.
Left Democratic Front’s Mayor candidate M. Muraleedharan says that the coming election is an opportunity for the people to compare the last five years’ corruption-free, development-oriented governance of the LDF with the ‘misrule’ of the UDF earlier. I.P. Paul, the Opposition leader of the outgoing council, however, contradicts this claim. “Stunted growth and misuse of funds marked five years of the LDF rule,” he alleges.
In 2005, the LDF-led council came into power winning 33 divisions with the support of the Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran). However, one after the other, councillors of the DIC(K), Janata Dal (Secular) and the Kerala Congress(J) moved over to the UDF, reducing the LDF strength to 25. The UDF and the BJP won two divisions and one division respectively in subsequent byelections. When the term ended, the UDF had 26 seats and the BJP one in the civic body.
The delimitation exercise has resulted in three more divisions getting added to the Corporation.
While the LDF is trying hard to fight off the allegation that its running of the Corporation during the last five years was inept, the UDF is facing the accusation of being a defunct Opposition.
The alleged inefficiency in the handling of the controversial Lalur garbage treatment issue has been a blot on the LDF image. Though the front did try to save its face by introducing the Lalur Model Project, the State Election Commission stopped its implementation till the completion of the election process.
Rampant rebel menace is one of the major troubles that the UDF camp faces. Former deputy mayor M.K. Suryaprakash and Francis Therattil, from Koorkenchery and Aranattukara divisions respectively, are the major rebel threats to the UDF. The LDF faces rebel problem in one division.
Of the 55 seats in the Thrissur Corporation, the CPI(M) and party-supported independents are contesting in 40 seats, CPI in nine and other constituents in six seats. Congress candidates are contesting in 47 divisions while other UDF constituents are in the fray in eight divisions.
The BJP has its candidates in only 40 divisions. The BJP votes may split in pockets where ousted leader Sreesan Adiyattu and his new party Democratic People’s Forum (DPF) have influence.
