© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency: With two popular faces taking on each other, the Thiruvananthapuram seat in Kerala has hogged the spotlight again ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024. BJP has fielded Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar against incumbent Congress’ Shashi Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram.
Both Chandrasekhar, 59, and Tharoor, 67, are high-profile faces, both suave and articulate leaders known for their various accomplishments. On the other hand, Raveendran, 78, has been positioning himself as an underdog.
Senior Congress leader and ex-Union minister Shashi Tharoor has been winning the Thiruvananthapuram seat since 2009. He is now set to be nominated by the Congress for his fourth bid.
Former UN diplomat, Tharoor is among the most popular Congress leaders in Kerala, whose image was further burnished after he contested, albeit unsuccessfully, the Congress presidential election in October 2022. Even in the 2014 elections, when he was faced with one of his toughest challenges in the wake of his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s demise, Tharoor managed to retain his seat.
Although confident that his track record as an MP since 2009 would be his biggest asset in this election too, Tharoor said he would not be complacent. “I took the seat in 2009 from the Communists who had won two previous elections and held it against the BJP which came second. Now it’s a three-cornered election and I do not take any election for granted,” Tharoor told The Indian Express.
Tough fight from Rajeev Chandrasekhar
Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s plunge into the capital fray has turned it into a triangular affair, which will be one of the most watched battles in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Chandrasekhar’s major challenge would be familiarising himself with his constituents whereas his two opponents have already been known faces in the belt. His nomination came on the eve of the polls even as several state BJP leaders had been vying to get it.
The BJP has never been able to win a Lok Sabha seat in Kerala. In the Assembly polls, the party won only once from Nemam in Thiruvananthapuram district, where O Rajagopal had won in 2016.
In the 2019 polls, the BJP’s Kummanam Rajasekharan had won 31.3 percent votes, the highest among what the BJP got in the 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.
The BJP’s apparent delay in deciding Chandrasekhar’s ticket – he was not invited to the multiple programmes Prime Minister Narendra Modi has attended in Thiruvananthapuram in the recent past – and the possible lack of support from the local BJP unit might undermine his prospects, BJP sources said.
Chandrasekhar’s moderate image also took a beating as he was accused by both the Left and Congress leaders of polarising the discourse in the wake of the Kalamassery blasts that killed two and injured over 50 followers of Jehovah’s Witnesses in October last year.
CPM-led LDF- the third contender
The CPM-led LDF has fielded CPI leader Pannyan Raveendran from the constituency, who had won it in 2005.
Raveendran has an image of a commoner. While both Tharoor and Chandrasekhar are upper-caste Nairs, the LDF candidate is from a backward community. “Raveendran is an underdog, and he could surprise others by emerging as a winner between the clash of the so-called titans,” said a Left leader.
However, Raveendran’s statement that he would no longer contest the elections ahead of his party’s announcement of his candidature could hurt his chances.
Some Left leaders say Raveendran could also capitalise on the perceived disenchantment among a section of coastal area residents – crucial vote base like Nairs in the constituency – against Tharoor and the BJP-led Centre over the Adani Vizhinjam port project. The coastal communities including Christian and Hindu Nadars have been upset with Tharoor for supporting the project.
