THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: State secretariat of the party has assessed that CPM can offer a good competition in the Puthuppally by-election. Victory for UDF will not be unilateral. The constituency has begun to discuss the politics of development advocated by LDF. However, there is an assessment that sympathy for Oommen Chandy and the approach of Christian churches may be decisive.

Secretary MV Govindan said in a press conference after the state secretariat meeting that the party is hopeful of winning in Puthuppally. LDF is doing good work in the constituency promoting politics and development. The condition of non-existence of a competition as claimed by UDF initially, does not exist in Puthuppally anymore. As Chandy Oommen was contesting in Oommen Chandy's regular seat for 53 years, UDF was hoping for an easy walkover on a sympathy wave. However, now they have realized that it is not easy to win.

Jaick C Thomas who saw a remarkable contest last time lost by 9044 votes. Now he is contesting with much more popular support than then. From the beginning, the party said that the by-election should be viewed politically and not emotionally. When the Leader of the Opposition said that the Kerala government would be prosecuted, we said that we would discuss development. The battle in Puthuppally is between development and anti-development. There is a discussion here as to why Puthuppally could not catch up with the general development of the state. The Chief Minister is making a politically effective intervention there. On the 30th of this month and the 1st of September, a campaign will be conducted in six panchayats under the leadership of the Chief Minister. 10 family meetings each attended by ministers and leaders will be held in 182 booths. The party adopts the organizational method of interacting directly with the people. By overcoming the approaches of the opposition and the central government which undermine the development activities, we have been able to create a good level of people's progress, MV Govindan said.