By Express News Service
KOCHI: If LDF is sort of a studious pupil who has revised his parts a number of occasions and accomplished all assignments earlier than the announcement of examinations, UDF is just like the back-bencher who knew examinations have been coming and needed to arrange properly, however couldn’t accomplish that. For UDF, parts are pending, there are errors requiring correction and it lacks infrastructure to check in a single day.
It was solely on March 22, two weeks earlier than the election, that UDF finalised the candidate for Elathur, that too after a number of rounds of discussions between Congress and NCK. This occurred regardless of the entrance’s determination to finish seat distribution and identification of candidates sooner than rivals. One of the brand new faces contesting from a central Kerala constituency mentioned he couldn’t even full printing posters and brochures as there may be an acute scarcity of fund. Congress faces shortage of volunteers to do house-to-house marketing campaign in most constituencies as native leaders are inactive owing to side-lining of highly effective ‘A’ and ‘I’ group leaders.
KPCC, which is going through fund crunch, is learnt to have allotted `20 lakh to ‘A’ class constituencies and `10 lakh to ‘B’ class seats. This is just a fraction of complete expenditure, as a candidate will want not less than `2 crore for a good marketing campaign. “The worst-hit are new faces who are more probable to fight well this time. They have no expertise in raising funds though leadership has directed each candidate to raise funds on their own,” mentioned a senior Congress chief.
While LDF has taken the lead in campaigning by reinforcing Urappanu LDF (It’s LDF, for certain) and tweaking the identical slogan to swimsuit the candidate in every constituency, a scarcity of coordination and unavailability of an identical tagline has hit the UDF marketing campaign. The social media cell of Congress has created posters with comparable design and color tone for on-line marketing campaign, however issues are totally different within the grassroots. Koodeyundavum Eppozhum (Will be with you, all the time) appears to be probably the most used catchphrase by UDF candidates.
Unlike prior to now, the Opposition is but to finalise on the most important marketing campaign challenge concentrating on the federal government. There are makes an attempt to revive the Sabarimala challenge and the UDF partly succeeded in it by getting NSS on board to share their concern. But, the problem doesn’t appear to evoke the identical emotions amongst voters like within the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, say native leaders.
Though Opposition chief Ramesh Chennithala levelled allegations about alleged manipulation within the voters’ checklist and inclusion of pretend and a number of voters, Congress couldn’t capitalise on it both because it failed to determine a hyperlink between pretend voters and CPM. What provides the entrance some hope is the resonance of deep-sea fishing controversy within the coastal belt. The management calculates that seats like Kollam, Chavara, Karunagappally, Cherthala and Vypeen may be wrested from LDF by cashing in on the anger of fisher group.
Lack of readability over the CM candidate can be a fear for marketing campaign managers. While LDF has offered Pinarayi Vijayan as their nominee, UDF has no clue about who will lead it if it wins. The huge crowd drawn by Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in Ernakulam and Kottayam has lifted the occasion’s spirit within the final section. Another trigger for aid is the sting gained by League candidates within the occasion’s strongholds. The League is assured of successful 20 to 23 seats of the 27 they contest and the mounted deposit of League will make issues simpler for Congress. Only if Congress ensures a placing price of not less than 50% within the 93 constituencies the place it contests can UDF hope for a change of guard.
