In IUML bastion of Kasaragod, Nellikkunnu faces anti-incumbency however numbers stacked in his favour

Express News Service
KASARAGOD: Two younger buddies begin speaking politics over a cup of espresso in a present.Friend 1: So that is your maiden vote. Who are you voting for?Friend 2 (wanting excited): Yes. But I have never determined but whom to vote for.Friend 1: What’s there to suppose. Vote for N A ‘cha’.Friend 2: But the trolls say he has not completed something.

This is just not an actual dialog.  It is a marketing campaign advert posted by Kasaragod’s two-time MLA N A Nellikunnu on his Facebook web page and it captures the broadly held notion that he has underperformed in the case of implementing tasks however pretty properly as a parliamentarian.

In the advert, Friend 1 goes on to record the MLA’s achievements however barely manages to speak of three issues to steer the maiden voter. He lists Kasaragod Medical College; the development of a test dam at Bavikkara, a ingesting water challenge which was within the making for 30 years; and lastly, the MLA’s daring act to drag the chain of Antyodaya Express in Kasaragod on June 22, 2018, to protest towards the Railways choice to not enable cease for the Kochuveli-Mangaluru Express prepare within the district.After the protest, the railways granted a cease for the prepare in Kasaragod.

Kasaragod medical school is nowhere near actuality. Its basis stone was laid in November 2013 by the then chief minister Oommen Chandy. The development of the Bavikkara test dam has introduced cheers to individuals of 5 panchayats and Kasaragod municipality as a result of for 30 years individuals have been compelled to drink saline water in the course of the summers.

The LDF authorities accomplished the challenge in two years. Nellikkunnu claims the challenge grew to become a actuality due to the quite a few questions he raised inside and outdoors the Assembly. “I made a promise to the people of Kasaragod that I will solve their drinking water crisis and I have kept the word,” he mentioned.

To be honest, Udma MLA Okay Kunhiraman — Bavikkara now is available in his constituency — paid private consideration to the implementation of the challenge. When it involves implementing tasks, Nellikkunnu says he introduced in tasks price Rs 469 crore to his constituency up to now 5 years. Giving the breakup, he says the healthcare sector received Rs 121 crore, transport for Rs 189 crore, and the training sector in his constituency received Rs 83 crore.

Just for comparability, Trikaripur’s first-time MLA M Rajagopalan introduced in tasks price Rs 1,436 crore to his constituency, of which Rs 1,100 crore was for establishing roads and bridges. Kanhangad MLA and minister E Chandrasekharan received Rs 900 crore for roads alone.

Okay Kunhiraman, who represented Udma, introduced in tasks price Rs 1,600 crore to the constituency.In Kasaragod constituency, the MLA is just not held accountable throughout elections. Since 1980, the constituency has seen solely two MLAs — C T Ahamedali (1980-2011) and Nellikkunnu (2011-2021). “As long as the BJP is No. 2 in Kasaragod, the IUML has no risk and IUML voters have no option,” says Zubair Pullikunnu, an IUML employee who runs a footwear enterprise on the town.

When requested to charge Nellikkunnu, he gave 8 out of 10 to the MLA however added: “If not for the BJP, his margin may dip”.

Trailing ShreekanthAround 11 km from Kasaragod city, BJP district president and celebration’s candidate Okay Shreekanth is taking out a roadshow at Edneer — on the Cherkala-Kalladaka state freeway.  He will get on to the decked-up truck 500m away from Edneer bus cease. The truck and his convoy take 20 minutes to achieve the bus cease. “That is the condition of the state highway. It could be the only major road in Kasaragod which has not been rebuilt in the past five years,” says Dhananjay, Shreekanth’s media coordinator.

Nellikkunnu says the contractors stopped the work on the highway however some individuals have been blaming him for that.

Sreekanth will get down from the truck and goes round Edneer junction, assembly individuals and searching for a vote. He meets Ayesha (60) — clad in burqa — in entrance of a store and seeks her vote.After the candidate moved to a different store, TNIE requested her whether or not she is going to vote for the BJP. Her terse reply was: “We have only one party”.

Ramachandra E C, who runs a provision retailer, says the junction has a financial institution, faculty ration store, publish workplace, and ayurveda clinic and folks of this place have been asking for a public bathroom and an outlet for ingesting water for a very long time. The junction has a public properly.

Around 500m from the junction is Chembayil Colony, a cluster of 30 homes of Dalit households. “Every evening, after work, the women from the colony come here to take water home. The colony has no access to water,” he says. “The drawing of water goes on till night. The women have no rest,” he says.Shreekanth sits in a bus shelter, painted within the BJP’s color, and speaks to TNIE. He says there are numerous households within the constituency who stay in shacks and with out entry to ingesting water.

At Mooliparamba in Badiadka panchayat, he says, he met one Safiya residing in a shack lined in tarpaulin. “I met another mother, Jayanthi, with two children living under a public water tank in the same panchayat,” he says.

The anganwadi within the MLA’s personal municipal ward remains to be run from a rented constructing, says Shreekanth.Governance doesn’t attain them and the individuals of the district rely on Mangaluru for training and healthcare, he says. “But the IUML invests only in anti-BJP rhetoric. The CPM contributes to it. For decades, the blind hate for BJP has kept the district backward,” he says.

When requested if it was ‘blind hate’ or if there’s some substance within the concern, he insists it’s blind hate. “We are not opposed to the Muslim community but against organisations such as SDPI. But that is portrayed as being against Muslims,” he says.

Many wealthy individuals from Kasaragod have invested in instructional establishments and hospitals at Deralakatte on the outskirts of Mangaluru, says Shreekanth. “Deralakatte was just like a village in Kasaragod. Today it is a major hub for healthcare and education. If only our leaders had a vision, the investment would have been made in Kasaragod,” he says.

This time, the IUML will get a shock remedy from a bit of employees from its personal celebration, says Shreekath. But Zubair disagrees. “The BJP does not inspire confidence. Not yet,” he says.

Number recreation

The IUML’s confidence stems from sheer quantity. The constituency is made up of eight native our bodies — Kasaragod municipality, and Badiadka, Belloor, Chengala, Karadka, Kumbadaje, Madhur, and Mogral Puthur gram panchayats.
The BJP has lead over the UDF in Badiadka, Belloor, Karadka, Kumbadaje and Madhur panchayats.
The leads add as much as round 14,000 votes. But the IUML has a lead of round 13,000 votes over the BJP in Chengala panchayat, says IUML chief Mahin Kelot.
Kasaragod municipality provides IUML a cushion of 6,000 votes and Mogral-Puthur provides a lead of one other 3,000 votes and the celebration sails by each time.