Though the Lok Sabha election is yet to be announced and political parties are yet to select the candidates, the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency has already started feeling the political heat.
Graffiti have started appearing in the constituency seeking support for T.N. Prathapan, V.S. Sunil Kumar and Suresh Gopi, representing the Congress, the Communist Party of India (CPI), and the Bharatiya Janata Party respectively, reflecting the rising political temperature here.
Campaign posters came up first in favour of Mr. Gopi. They appeared on autorickshaws, mainly of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, saying ‘chathikkilla’ (won’t cheat). This was soon after a woman journalist filed a complaint against Mr. Gopi. “The posters reflect their sentiments,” Mr. Gopi had responded.
Graffiti for Mr. Prathapan, the sitting MP, first appeared at Venkitangu, reading ‘Prathapan thudarum, prathapathode’ (Prathapan will continue with glory). Mr. Prathapan later intervened and removed them. He warned party workers against campaigning before the official announcement of candidates by the Congress high command. However, new posters appeared at Choondal, Elavally, and Chittattukara. Mr. Prathapan said “the graffiti reflect the spirit of the workers.”
The posters favouring Mr. Sunil Kumar, CPI leader and former State Agriculture Minister, followed. The slogan, ‘Sunilettanu oru vote’ (one vote for brother Sunil) appeared on social media. However, Mr. Sunil Kumar said the campaigning was done without the knowledge of the party.
Thrissur has been drawing attention after the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the constituency twice in January itself. The BJP expects that the Prime Minister’s visits will boost their chances in Thrissur. Thrissur is one of the constituencies in the State which the BJP is pinning its hopes.
In a triangular contest in 2019, Mr. Prathapan won from the constituency by polling 4,15,089 votes against CPI’s Rajai Mathew Thomas, who got 3,21,456 votes. Though pushed to the third position, Mr. Gopi put up a strong show by winning 2,93,822 votes.
