PIRAVOM: During the 100-odd days after the death of T M Jacob, Piravom has become the fulcrum of many a topical debate. From Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on December 17 accusing Kerala of fuelling Mullaperiyar fears with Piravom in mind to this week’s gem from the Italian media blaming the bypoll for transforming a ‘minor’ situation into a ‘complex’ one, the list goes on.Doubts linger at least in some quarters whether it was the Indian Foreign Minister or the large contingent from Kerala that turned up in the Vatican for Archbishop Mar George Alencherry’s ordination that let slip the bypoll reference.With Wednesday’s thunderbolt from Agenzia Fides that Cardinal Alencherry had promised to intervene in the Enrica Lexie case, the subsequent denial notwithstanding, the Italian angle could become a poll issue. As debates raged on the inadvisability of the bypoll being held on a Sunday, the Election Commission agreed to the proposal - voiced in unison by the UDF and LDF - that the byelection be held on March 17, a Saturday.Clearly, no efforts are being spared to keep the 44 per cent-strong Christian community in Piravom in good humour. The poll outcome may finally be decided by how the two feuding Christian factions — the Jacobite and the Orthodox — decide to respond over the unresolved ownership dispute of several churches in this constituency. Talk to the two Jacobs fighting it out and both claim they would rather look at Piravom-specific issues. “I’m more of a doer than a talker and Piravom knows this. I did in five years as MLA is not inferior to what the UDF did during five full terms” M J Jacob told Express at Chottanikkara. Later in the day, young Anoop Jacob takes a short break at Ramamangalam near Koothattukulam to air his views on why he will win hands down: “We did not do our homework last time and my father was not keeping well.” Surely, with so much at stake, the Piravom bypoll will be different from any in the past.
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