NEYYATINKARA: The white Innova trundles past a poster which reads, ‘In the fortress of defection, in an age of betrayals, on the right path of faith!’ A photograph of O Rajagopal, the BJP candidate for Neyyatinkara bypoll, accompanies the declaration.The Innova turns into a side lane and rolls to a stop in front of a small house. It’s 10.15 am at Aranganmukal in Athiyannur panchayat. Rajagopal steps out of the car, and without much ado, is hustled through the gate to a group of waiting women. He invites all to take their seats, topping it up with a greeting to ‘all the mothers assembled here.’ It’s warm out in the open, but the sun is hidden behind the clouds and there is the occasional breeze. Rajagopal does not fancy-talk his audience like your typical politician, but comes straight to the point.“Are there any problems which you would like to talk about?” he asks. The women appear a bit shy, but one of them finally ventures with a comment: ‘They say you will win. ‘It’s more like a question. I have great confidence I’ll win. The people I meet also tell me that,” Rajagopal, impeccable in a green kurta and mundu, responds with a smile. The women listen raptly as he takes them through the gruesome murder of RMP leader T P Chandrasekharan. “It was a brutal murder, true. And the murderers have to be arrested. But is a murder in Kannur anything new to us? At least 50 murders have happened there in the past 10 years,” he says.He continues to make all the right noises. He dwells for a moment on the reasons why the people of Neyyatinkara are being subjected to a bypoll just a year after the UDF Government’s term. A year ago, the people had voted for R Selvaraj of the CPM, and now, he is the UDF candidate.“The Congress stood for it,” Rajagopal adds emphatically. The former Union Minister has kept his best for the last, though. Development and price rise. Two topics of immediate interest to the common man. They are also two topics upon which both LDF and UDF are hesitant to dwell for extended periods. Rajagopal blames the two fronts for the absence of development in Neyyatinkara, a place where he has come across the worst roads in the state. “Now the UDF and the LDF are asking the people to vote for them, when, in fact, they should be punished for irresponsibility.”On Thursday, the 83-year-old leader had travelled on a bullock-cart to protest against the hike in petrol prices, but Friday morning was set aside for the womenfolk. Women votes matter if Rajagopal is to make any impression in the perplexing community politics of Neyyatinkara. This in mind, he has been focusing a lot on family meets, where his charm and clean-politician image are expected to work wonders. To chilling murders, defections and irresponsible governance, this veteran campaigner offers a panacea; ‘Not left, not right, but a straight front.’
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