Puthupalli: Battle on crutches hotting up

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 9: An interesting fight is expected in Puthupalli constituency where the two high-profile candidates Chief Minister Ommen Chandy (Congress) and his CPI(M) rival Sindhu Joy -- are both on crutches.

While Mr Chandy suffered a fall during his trip to Davos and broke his hip, Ms Joy suffered a leg injury in a grenade blast while leading a students' agitation a few months ago. Both the candidates have not fully recovered and need to take recourse to walking aids.

Ms Joy hit the headlines following her 14-day remand in connection with cases relating to recent student protests. The police registered 14 cases against her on various counts, including destruction of public property and attempt to murder and issued warrants in five cases.

Two days later, on April three, there was high drama as Ms Joy, who was granted bail in six cases, failed to get released from jail as fresh warrants were served on her in a case related to the agitation at the DPI office last month.

She was finally granted bail the next day and soon after filed nomination papers from the jail itself as it was the last date.

The pitch has queered for Mr Chandy with Ms Joy trying to convince people that she is the victim of his government's ''atrocities.'' She is also trying to derive additional support by constant condemn of the Chandy government's ''anti-development policies'' of the government and the 'atrocities unleashed against women and the student community.'

Ms Joy also made an emotional outburst against the Chief Minster. In an open letter sent from jail, the CPI (M) candidate, who is also the Students Federation of India (SFI) leader said she has been made accused in a number of old cases due her candidature at Puthupalli. ''The serious injury caused to my foot by a police grenade attack has not yet healed. I cannot walk without crutches and cannot even peform my routine work without assistance. It is unbecoming of a Chief Minister to use his power to put me behind bars in fake cases,'' she claimed.

''Aren't you a father? Isn't your daughter an active member of the KSU? Have you for a moment placed your daughter in my place? Before instructing your advocate you could have at least thought about the condition of a female who has lost her father and mother,'' she asked the Chief Minister.

However, Mr Chandy professed innocence and said he was not aware of any fresh warrants. He had also ordered an inquiry to probe whether there were any ''bad intentions'' behind the move of the police under which a fresh production warrant was issued against her.

Mr Chandy had kicked off his election appealing to the people to give the UDF another term to consolidate the gains of the past five years and take the state along the trajectory of progress and harping on ''development and care'' of the downtrodden.

Ms Sindhu Joy has also started her tour in the Puthupalli constituency.

While there is no sophisticated mode of transport for Ms Joy's tour of the constituency, the Pradesh Congress has brought in a special van modified to suit all the requirements of the Chief Minister.

The fully air-conditioned van has a rest room and even a small cubicle for meetings. Mr Chandy would also be able to address the gatherings through a podium in the van, which works on hydraulic pressure.

UNI