With only a week for the election campaign to end in Kerala, which goes to polls on April 23, the three major fronts in the state are geared up for high decibel campaigns. The last week before elections will see national leaders of all the three fronts - LDF, UDF and the BJP - coming to the state to campaign for their party candidates.
Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi for the UDF
Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who is contesting from Wayanad constituency in addition to his Amethi seat, will arrive in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday night. He will campaign in the Mavelikkara constituency in Alappuzha district on Tuesday morning at 10. Senior Congress leader and KPCC working General Secretary Kodikkunnil Suresh is the Congress candidate in Mavelikkara.
Rahul Gandhi then will address public meetings at Pathanapuram at 10 am. The Congress President will also be speaking at public meetings in the neighbouring Pathanamthitta at 11.30 am, in Alappuzha at 4 pm and in Thiruvananthapuram at 6 pm. Anto Antony, Shanimol Usman and Shashi Tharoor are respectively the candidates for the UDF in these constituencies. Between the campaigns, he will also be visiting the family of Kerala Congress (M) patriarch KM Mani, who passed away recently. He will leave for Kannur in the night.
On April 17, Rahul Gandhi will meet UDF leaders of Kannur, Kasargode and Kozhikode districts. He will then be travelling to Wayanad to campaign from the second constituency he is contesting from. He will also be visiting Sultan Bathery and Thiruvambady in the morning and will be in Vandoor and Thrithala in the evening.
His sister Priyanka Gandhi will reach Wayanad on April 20 to join his campaign. On April 21, she will embark on a roadshow in a different part of the constituency.
For the Left: Yechury, Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat and Subhashini Ali
For the Left, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has been spearheading the campaign in various parts of the state. CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and his CPI counterpart, Sudhakar Reddy, have already campaigned once in the state. Yechury will arrive again on Wednesday (April 17).
On April 17, Yechury will be speaking at campaign events in Idukki, Chalakkudy and Thrissur. Left-backed independent Joyce George is the candidate in Idukki and actor-turned-politician Innocent is the Left candidate from Chalakkudy. He is the sitting MP but had contested as an independent backed by the Left in 2014. In Thrissur, CPI’s Rajaji Mathew Thomas is the LDF candidate.
On April 18, the CPI(M) General Secretary will campaign in Kalapetta and Vandooor in Wayanad, in Ponnani and in Thrissur constituencies. On April 19, the Yechury will be part of the campaign in Kozhikode and in Vadakara constituencies. In Kozhikode, the sitting MLA of Kozhikode north, Pradeep Kumar is CPI (M) candidate and in Vadakara, senior leader P Jayarajan is the candidate. Yechury will be in Kannur and Kasargode on April 20, campaigning for the candidates PK Sreemathy and Satheesh Chandran.
CPI(M) Polit-Bureau member Brinda Karat will begin her second round of campaigning on Tuesday from the northern district of Kasargode. She will take part in the campaign in Kannur on the same day. On April 17, Brinda Karat will be in Wayanad and Vadakara and on April 18, she will campaign in Kozhikode. On April 19, Brinda Karat will be campaigning in Malappuram and Ponnani constituencies.
Former General Secretary of the CPI(M) Prakash Karat will also join the campaign for CPI(M) candidate Veena George in Pathanamthitta on Tuesday, apart from campaigning in Idukki. On April 18, Karat will be in Ponnani and Malappuram. SFI national President VP Sanu is contesting for the CPI(M) from Malappuram.
CPI leader and President of All India Democratic Women’s Association, Subhashini Ali, will also join the campaign from April 16 to April 19.
Amit Shah and Nirmala Sitharaman to campaign for BJP
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrived in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday evening. She took part in a public meeting for the party candidate Sobha Surendran in Attingal. She also took part in a road show in the coastal region of Thiruvananthapuram. She is scheduled to campaign in Kannur. Meanwhile, BJP President Amit Shah will address two campaign rallies in Thrissur on Tuesday.