Trivandrum (Kerala): Nemom, a small constituency, sandwiched between Neyyattinkara and Trivandrum Assembly constituencies, has turned into a centre of political discourse, especially with the Congress High Command trying to wrestle back the constituency, which is the lone seat belonging to the BJP in Kerala since the 2016 election. At present, the names being suggested for the Congress ticket are those of former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala.
The message that the High Command intends to convey is loud and clear, that they are not shying away from taking on the BJP by their horns in their power centres and presume that such a move could uplift Congress' image in the entire state.
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All is well with the planning in Delhi, but neither Chandy nor Chennithala is too keen to walk in the way that the High Command suggested and Chandy already has made his stand clear saying that he will not leave his constituency Puthupally, which he had won for the last 11 times.
Congress has a bit of history to talk about when it comes to Nemom. In 1982, senior Congress leader, K Karunakaran contested from two constituencies in Kerala, Nemom in Trivandrum and Mala in Thrissur district. He won with a thumping majority in both the constituencies and went on to become the Chief Minister. He chose to retain his Mala representation and resigned from Nemom. A bye-election to Nemom was conducted in 1983 and Congress fielded E Rameshan Nair.
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But Nemom showed its true colours then and elected CPM leader VJ Thankappan in the bye-election. For the next 18 years, Nemom stood rock solid with the CPM and N Sakthan of the Congress won back the constituency in 2001. He retained the seat with a margin of 60,884 in 2006.
The wind in Nemom was changing direction ever since and in 2011, it went once again with CPM and V Sivankutty became the MLA from Nemom.
In 2016, BJP rewrote history after O Rajagopal won from Nemom to become the first BJP MLA in Kerala Assembly. This result gave way to a widespread discussion and possible cross-voting from Congress payment in favour of BJP. Congress candidate V Surendran Pillai could only secure 13,860 votes and finished only third behind CPM candidate V Sivankutty.
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Congress' dismal performance in a constituency where they had won with 60,000 plus majority in 2006, fired the allegations of cross-voting.
In 2021, Congress wants to wash off this serious allegation against the party, and the High Command suggested fielding a strong candidate in Nemom to block the BJP from retaining the seat.
When V Sivankutty is again coming to the battlefield representing LDF, BJP is contemplating fielding former Mizoram Governor, Kummanam Rajasekharan at Nemom. So the AICC wants a strong Congress candidate and the natural choice was Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala.
KPCC president Mulappally Ramachandran had asked Chandy to contest from Nemom about two months ago and it became a hot topic of discussion then. However, Chandy was quick to dismiss it.
When the election potboiler is on the high flame, newer strategies are emerging and the AICC wants to send out a message that Congress is the main, and probably the only major opposition to the BJP. AICC also wishes to field stronger candidates at Vattiyoorkavu and Kazhakootam, which BJP is confident of giving a tough fight.
Whether the Kerala state leadership, who are averse to the idea of leaving their comfort zones to test new waters will buy the arguments of the Congress High Command and put up a fight against the fully confident BJP at Nemom is what needs to be seen. Kerala is keenly watching what political surprise Congress has kept in store for Nemom and in the other two key constituencies in Trivandrum. However, one message is clear that they may not shy away from fielding stronger candidates in BJP's dream constituencies.
