{"id":5461,"date":"2024-04-23T14:30:20","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T14:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/?p=5461"},"modified":"2024-04-23T14:30:20","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T14:30:20","slug":"lok-sabha-polls-in-alappuzha-k-c-venugopal-faces-the-most-unique-electoral-contest-of-his-lifetime-the-hindu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/?p=5461","title":{"rendered":"Lok Sabha polls | In Alappuzha, K.C. Venugopal faces the most unique electoral contest of his lifetime – The Hindu"},"content":{"rendered":"

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April 21, 2024 07:52 pm | Updated 10:19 pm IST – Alappuzha:
UDF candidate K.C. Venugopal during electioneering in Alappuzha. | Photo Credit: The Hindu
K.C. Venugopal fought his first election when he was 13, as a high school student, against the CPI(M)-affiliated SFI\u2019s candidate. After numerous electoral battles over the next five decades \u2014 from college and university levels to the State Assembly and the Lok Sabha, KCV \u2014 as he is called \u2014 is facing the most unique electoral contest of his lifetime. He is in the battlefield to win the lone seat that the CPI(M) had won in Kerala in 2019, Alappuzha, even as he continues to coordinate a national alliance against the BJP that includes his principal rival in the State. He is General Secretary (Organisation) \u2014 GSO \u2014 of the Congress. This battle between the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) for the 20th seat in Kerala says a lot about the challenges before the Opposition alliance. What is between the Left and the Congress could be termed a political situationship. And the BJP is trying to make an entry into Kerala by portraying the Left and the Congress as opportunistic.
The UDF and the LDF are constantly at daggers drawn in the State, but the last week to the polling on 26th is turning out to be bitter for the frenemies. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi \u2014 whose candidacy from Wayanad in the State is also a point of acrimony \u2014 and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan have personally crossed swords. In the eye of the storm as the key Congress strategist, KCV tries to remain unfazed.
\u201cParty workers wanted me to contest, and I cannot say no to the same people who had elected me earlier from Alappuzha,\u201d Mr. Venugopal explained his reason for contesting the Lok Sabha even though he is a member of the Rajya Sabha. \u201cI am contesting only because Congress workers insisted,\u201d he said even as he hopped from a convent to a temple, making quick stops at the homes of a few local influencers and at the market. Campaigning is at a furious pitch, but aides kept extending phones, going down a long list of people that they carried \u2014 party colleagues, alliance partners and journalists from across the country. \u201cI am dividing my time between national affairs and local campaign,\u201d he said, expressing relief that he would be free from his own contest by the end of the week. \u201cPeople like you and support you, but it is unthinkable that any candidate in Kerala can win without intensive campaigning,\u201d he said. \u201cAs of now, I dash to Delhi as and when required. After the second phase, my focus will shift to national politics completely.\u201d
As both the UDF and the LDF try to maximise their seats at the cost of the other, campaigning is no-holds-barred. KCV\u2019s Rajya Sabha colleague and comrade in arms in Delhi, CPI(M)\u2018s John Britas is scathing in his attack. \u201cRahul Gandhi and KCV are doing a great disservice to Opposition unity. Instead of coming and taking refuge in Kerala, Rahul should fight the BJP in the epicentre of communalism. As GSO, KCV should have been focusing on bringing together parties at the national level. If he wins in Alappuzha, he will vacate a Rajya Sabha seat which will be taken by the BJP. He is the real person managing the Congress show and is showing political immaturity by contesting in Alappuzha. Rahul and KCV, both contesting in Kerala is against the essence and spirit of unity against the BJP.\u201d
However, both Mr. Venugopal and Mr. Britas are united in their view that facing off in Kerala and cooperating elsewhere is par for the course. \u201cCommunalism of the BJP is the biggest threat to the country and the Congress is making all sacrifices to build a national coalition against it,\u201d he says, accusing the CPI(M) of helping the entry of the BJP in Kerala. \u2018CPI(M) wants to finish the Congress in Kerala and usher in the BJP.\u201d Mr. Britas levels the same charge against the Congress. \u201cCongress is helping the BJP, and Rahul Gandhi even refused to use flags of the Congress and the Muslim League in Wayanad.\u201d
\u201cIn a diverse country like India, it is not unusual or scandalous to contest against each other in a region and cooperate at the national level,\u201d argues Mr. Britas. Citing the works of scholar Robin Jeffrey, Mr. Britas argued that the healthy contest between the LDF and the UDF is at the heart of Kerala\u2019s unique politics. \u201cThis contest also ensures that political spectrum of Kerala is kept free of the BJP. So our fight is natural, historical and in alignment with objective of our reasonable collaboration at the national level to defeat the BJP.\u201d
The BJP is seeking to reconfigure Kerala\u2019s politics by terming the LDF and the UDF as two sides of the same coin. Among the candidates that are leading the BJP\u2019s charge in the State is Rajeev Chandrasekhar in Thiruvananthapuram, where he is challenging Congress\u2019s Shashi Tharoor who has completed three terms in the Lok Sabha. \u201cBoth fronts have been profiting from creating fear among the people of Kerala but that is no longer working. They make accusations against us, of being anti-minority, anti-south India and so on. And then they are fighting against each other in Kerala. Nothing exposes their hypocrisy more than this \u2014 foes in Kerala and friends in Delhi. What politics is this?\u201d
Mr. Chandrashekhar\u2019s key campaign plank is that the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s vision are the real alternative for the development of the State. \u201cThey are also united in one thing \u2014 which is in creating barriers for the development of the State. They lack a vision for the State, and the BJP under Modi has changed direction of development thinking in Kerala,\u201d Mr. Chandrashekhar said.
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To enjoy additional benefitsCONNECT WITH US April 21, 2024 07:52 pm | Updated 10:19 pm IST – Alappuzha: UDF candidate K.C. Venugopal during electioneering in Alappuzha. | Photo Credit: The Hindu K.C. Venugopal fought his first election when he was 13, as a high school student, against the CPI(M)-affiliated SFI\u2019s candidate. After numerous electoral battles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5461\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}