PALAKKAD: The turf of Palakkad played a significant role in elevating BJP as a third alternative in Kerala’s political arena. It is the same constituency that saw a young Turk from Congress doing a coup and wresting power from CPM in an enthralling style. In the last two assembly elections, the CPM ended up third in the constituency. It is the legislative constituency where the BJP has maintained more than 10 per cent votes for the last four decades.

This time, Congress fielded young firebrand Rahul Mamkootathil to guard the fort as Shafi Parambil's successor. Many expressed dissent over the decision while some went for open rebellion. CPM fished in troubled waters and thus made Congress rebel P Sarin their independent candidate. Like in all times, BJP has assigned the responsibility to C Krishnakumar, the local leader with mass appeal among the populace.

With all three candidates filing their nomination papers, Palakkad is set to witness a three-way battle in the by-polls.

Within an hour of the announcement of the by-election, the Congress high command confirmed Rahul's candidature. This also ignited an unprecedented internal feud within Congress. Following the footsteps of P Sarin, former Youth Congress secretary A K Shanib also quit the party giving major headaches to Congress. The leadership pacified some dissenting voices within I group but no talks bore fruition in persuading A K Shanib to reverse his decision.

It has also been informed that Shanib will contest as an independent candidate. Rahul Mamkootathil’s hurtful remark at former congress leader Padmaja Venugopal is a major talking point in the constituency.

C. Krishnakumar contested the last Lok Sabha election in Palakkad and increased the vote share. Shobha Surendran's name was also in consideration but the final decision was made after consulting with RSS leadership. Krishnakumar will be able to make a difference if he manages to get the vote from Shobha Surendran’s followers in Palakkad.

The CPM leadership and workers are divided on Sarin’s candidature. The grassroots-level workers of the party dismiss the idea of voting for a candidate who earlier demeaned CM Pinarayi Vijayan in grotesque words. The local party workers portend a downfall for CPM while the leadership is confident in their candidate selection.