Mayor and Sabarimala; Factors behind NDA’s historic win in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Thiruvananthapuram Corporation is going to the hands of the NDA for the first time in history. The latest report says the NDA's lead is approaching to an absolute majority. All their prominent candidates, including V V Rajesh raised by the NDA as mayor candidate and former DGP R Sreelekha have won. All of them have won with a comfortable majority.

The election results were a huge setback for the LDF, which had been in control of the corporation for almost half a century. Although many crooked ways were taken by cutting and merging wards to bring the corporation under its control with the support of the state administration, it could not influence the people. The NDA's slogan that what cannot be changed will change was literally true.

The reason for the miserable defeat of the Left Front is the people's opposition to the present administration of the corporation. Arya Rajendran presented by the LDF as the youngest mayor, was a total failure. Despite many allegations and complaints, the CPM was not ready to replace the mayor. Many in the CPM itself pointed that this was due to her closeness to the party's top brass. Most recently, the mayor and her husband Sachin Dev MLA were exempted from the chargesheet filed in the case of blocking KSRTC driver before the election.

Despite sitting in the mayor's chair for five years, Arya Rajendran was not seen campaigning anywhere this time. The talks are that the party itself had kept her aside to avoid public opposition. However, ministers and others gave hints that she might get a bigger post than this. Left supporters themselves admit that people's anger towards the state and corporation administration turned into votes.

The LDF campaigned in the corporation by highlighting the achievements of the state government without any achievements to highlight. On the contrary, the NDA and the UDF campaigned by highlighting the corruption and nepotism in the corporation administration. The corruption even in Atukal Pongala angered the public and that too turned as votes.

The gold loot in Sabarimala, which fell like a thunderbolt on the LDF just before the elections, also led to the NDA's victory. The NDA also used former minister Kadakampally Surendran's relationship with the main accused in the gold loot, Unnikrishnan Potty, as a powerful propaganda weapon. The NDA captured almost all the wards in Kadakampally's constituency, Kazhakoottam.

It was essential for BJP state president Rajiv Chandrasekhar to capture the capital corporation. Nothing less than victory was enough to change his bad reputation as an inexperienced person. He could easily achieve it through the systematic activities of the RSS. The suicide of Thirumala Anil, who was the patron of the cooperative bank under the party and the corporation councilor, was a major blow to the NDA. It was feared that the young leader's suicide due to the distress of not getting a seat would also be a setback. However, Rajeev Chandrasekhar's leadership was there to deal with all those problems graciously.

Along with this, it is believed that the things highlighted in the BJP manifesto influenced the voters. 'We want a developed Thiruvananthapuram, what has not changed will change' was the slogan raised by the NDA.

A venue for the Olympics to be held in India in 2036 will be requested from the central government and brought to Thiruvananthapuram. The main promise in the manifesto was that through this, the sports dreams of the youth in the capital city will be strengthened.

A blueprint prepared for the comprehensive development of the city of Thiruvananthapuram will be published within 45 days of coming to power. By 2030, Thiruvananthapuram will be made one of the top three cities in India, central schemes will be brought to every household, good treatment in family health centers, 24-hour doctor service, CSC centers will be ensured in all wards, corruption-free governance will be ensured with the help of digital AI technology, governance will be brought to the doorstep without going to offices, development progress cards will be issued every year, projects on the Surat model to avoid waterlogging, houses will be provided to all homeless people in the corporation in five years with the help of the central government, financial transactions between the people and the corporation will be made 100 percent online, water bodies like Amayizhanjan and Parvathy Puthanar will be cleaned and protected on the model of the Ganga Purification Mission, the problem of waste will be solved, a pilgrimage tourism project focusing on the Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Beemapalli, Vettukad and Attukal Temples, etc were some of the promises in the manifesto.

The UDF, which has been in a very miserable state for ten years, is showing signs of recovery. The UDF, which had been limited to just ten seats in the last election, has come out to contest this time saying that it would show a miracle. Former MLA Sabarinadhan was put in the front of the fight. Although it did not show miracles, the UDF tried to improve their situation.