Kerala meeting elections: Will this be Ramesh Chennithala’s best hour but?

Express News Service
HARIPAD: “We are waiting for the day when Haripad gets a chief minister,” Abdul Khader, who’s in his 70s, tells The New Indian Express whereas waving on the motorcade of Opposition chief and UDF candidate Ramesh  Chennithala, which made its strategy to predominantly Muslim space of Thulamparambu within the Haripad constituency after the rousing reception on the Sree Subramanya Swamy temple.

Over to the Haripad MLA’s home. Two undated black-and-white medium-sized pictures adorn the partitions throughout a desk of the sitting-cum-office room. In one among them, a younger Ramesh Chennithala is seen within the firm of Indira Gandhi and Okay Karunakaran. In the second, which is positioned barely above the primary, a jovial Chennithala is seen explaining one thing to Rajiv Gandhi.

At the UDF workplace in Haripad, there’s a sense of objective.  Party staff are making the ultimate preparations for Chennithala’s schedule for the day. G Mohandas, who was further private secretary to Chennithala when he was the house minister, is issuing meals and gas coupons to staff.

At 8.00 am, Chennithala held a presser on the UDF workplace, located in Haripad city, about 1.5 km from the MLA’s home. He continued his tirade in opposition to the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF authorities on the facility buy settlement with the Adani Group. This was the second consecutive day on which he attacked the federal government over the cope with Adani.

It’s 10.30 am. Two native Congressmen flip by means of the pages of newspapers as if to kill time. The MLA’s home is in any other case empty. Chennithala, the MLA from Haripad,  is away in Tiruvalla to marketing campaign for Kunjukoshy Paul of Kerala Congress(Joseph), a UDF ally.

Meanwhile, Chennithala is predicted to return from Tiruvalla at 11.30 am for one ultimate lap of Haripad, starting his campaigning for the day from Haripad Sree Subramanya Swamy temple. He’s contesting from Haripad for a fifth time, and this time his supporters count on nothing lower than a victory margin of 25,000 votes. In 2016, his margin of victory was 18,621.

Waving at his supporters, Chennithala arrives in an open jeep alongside along with his motorcade round 12:45 pm. He’s instantly surrounded by ready supporters, however the very first thing on the agenda is to hunt the blessings of Karthikeya, the presiding deity. There’s no tiredness or weariness in Chennithala.

Talking to The New Indian Express, in between accepting shawls from supporters and readily posing for selfies, Chennithala says he is assured of the UDF scoring a cushty victory. He says campaigning by each Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi has lifted the spirits of staff.

“The entire LDF-Pinarayi Vijayan campaign is propped up by a 24-hour PR machinery. This will fall apart, once the election results are out. The people of Kerala desire a change. They have made up their minds,” he says.

Chennithala has to attend round 23 extra official receptions in Haripad, and that is his ultimate day of campaigning on his house turf. On Sunday, he will probably be off to Idukki, one other key district for the UDF. “Am I talking to the next Chief Minister of Kerala?” I ask. “The high command will decide the chief minister,” he says.

The ‘High Command will determine’ is the official place of any aspiring chief minister within the Congress. But, Chennithala is aware of that there is one other larger battle he has to win as soon as the UDF secures a majority. But for now, the job at hand is to cross the primary hurdle.

The Opposition chief follows a strict routine, which might clarify his youthfulness. He will get up at 5.30 am and goes by means of newspapers. After a 15-minute yoga session, he’s prepared for the day’s actions. John Thomas, who’s dealing with his affairs within the Haripad constituency, says Chennithala has been a purevegetarian. But now, he eats fish on the recommendation of medical doctors to strengthen muscle mass.

For Chennithala, this meeting election is a do-or-die affair. There are simply two extra days left for polling day. All the onerous work and toil he had put in over the past 5 years as  Opposition chief, will probably be lastly examined because the state goes to the polls on Tuesday.

“Why only Nemom, I’m contesting from all the 140 seats,” he had mentioned when there was a requirement for him to contest from the one seat gained by the BJP within the 2016 elections.

The assertion merely tells what’s at stake for this 65-year-old. The final 5 years haven’t been simple for Chennithala, An unfriendly press, an impression fastidiously created by his detractors that he is somebody ever-ready to shift loyalties to Sangh Parivar/BJP, or that he’s a weak Opposition chief, who’s nomatch for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

But there is not any denying the truth that Chennithala has been in a position to put the LDF authorities on the defensive on a number of fronts. After he put out your complete checklist of over 4 lakh double and bogus voters on the internet, the Election Commission on Friday hurriedly put out a set of measures to forestall a number of/bogus voting.

Chennithala holds the report for the youngest minister within the state’s historical past when he was made the agricultural growth minister within the 1986 Karunakaran ministry– a report which stands even 35 years on.

Since returning to state politics as KPCC president in 2005, it is no secret that Chennithala has been harbouring an ambition to develop into the chief minister someday. That time is now.