Poll outcome to be decisive for LDF

Reversal at the hustings will prove to be quite deleterious

The Lok Sabha poll outcome is quite decisive for the Left Democratic Front (LDF) as well as the Bharatiya Janata Partry (BJP) as it will put to test the significance of the Left parties in the national post-poll scenario and the latter’s claims to open account in the State.

On winning a significant number of seats, the LDF in Kerala would turn out to be the pivot of the discussions forming the new government and the State units of the CPI(M) and CPI would have a crucial say in setting its course. Reversal at the hustings would prove to be quite deleterious too. The United Democratic Front (UDF) and the BJP would eventually train their guns on the State government, especially on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and may dub it as a reflection of the functioning of the State government.

Once talks for forming a third alternative gathered momentum after the initial rounds of the election, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao had called on Mr. Vijayan for consultations and that was deemed as an indication of how Kerala would show the way in national politics once chances become quite evident for the Congress and other Opposition parties to stake claim for forming a government.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), especially the BJP, that had been riding the crest of the Sabarimala issue had staked claims of winning at least four seats, Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Thrissur and Palakkad, and also improving its tally in all other segments, will have to do considerable explaining if it draws a blank as in the previous election.

This was despite the party and the front focussing on the four segments it had billed as A Plus and concentrating all its might for consolidating Hindu votes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah had visited the State a number of times and the party had meticulously laid thrust of its campaign on Sabarimala issue all along.

Compared to the previous elections, the LDF had functioned as a cohesive whole and gained an early bird advantage by entering the fray well ahead of its rivals. There were no differences of opinion among the front partners and had succeeded in sustaining the campaign momentum. This has kindled the hopes of the front in attaining a remarkable win. Any setback, if happens, would be taken quite seriously.

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