Nemom showdown: How Rajeev Chandrasekhar vs Left is playing out in Kerala’s marquee contest

The stakes of winning the semi-urban seat on the fringes of Thiruvananthapuram have elevated it to the status of “Grand Slam” of the Kerala polls: a defeat will be a blow to the BJP’s ambitions of making a headway in the state, while a win will keep the door ajar for it to barge in. It is the party’s gateway to Kerala, PM Narendra Modi observed at a recent campaign event.

The contrast between the two contestants could not have been more pronounced: the battle between the upright comrade and the corporate baron. When Labour and General Education Minister V Sivankutty, the incumbent MLA, was rising through the CPI(M) ranks — he was the defiant face of numerous strikes and marches to the secretariat in his youth, twice a Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram — Rajeev Chandrasekhar, seven years his junior, was cutting his teeth in Silicon Valley. Decades later, Sivankutty is the footsoldier who wrestled the Assembly seat back from BJP’s O Rajagopal and is in charge of retaining it, while Chandrasekhar is the leader the BJP has entrusted with expanding its Kerala footprint and that starts with snatching back Nemom. Winning the seat is no longer a matter of pride for the BJP, but a statement of intent.

Sivankutty is fondly called “Annan”, or elder brother, the equivalent of “chetta”. Despite their differences, his own political rivals can put their arms around him and share a cup of tea. He speaks their dialect, born and raised in a village roughly 10 km from Nemom. Chandrasekhar’s Malayalam, despite its acquired refinement, reveals his upbringing outside the state and stint in America. Chandrasekhar loves vintage bikes and was once hooked to listening to heavy metal bands Uriah Heep and Wishbone Ash; Sivankutty’s biggest dream, meanwhile, is to own a football club “like Mohun Bagan”.

Chandrasekhar’s portfolio appears to have struck a chord with some of the youth: part of the Intel team of engineers that conceptualised the pathbreaking 486 processor, media mogul, poster boy of India’s mobile revolution, and assets worth crores. “He has real charisma, he is wealthy, successful and a way of doing things,” says S Raghav, a CA aspirant in his early 20s.

Attacks and counterattacks

The BJP leader has also drawn attacks from his political rivals. First, the Congress alleged that he had failed to declare assets worth Rs 200 crore, but the Election Commission upheld the state BJP chief’s candidacy. Then, Sivankutty took aim at Chandrasekhar over the visit of aghoris to bless him. “Mothers in my constituency are concerned that these men will visit their homes to campaign for the BJP. There are little girls and boys at home,” said the Left leader.

However, like a quick counterattack gone awry — an analogy that football-tragic Sivankutty could relate to — the taunts backfired. The NDA fished out an old video of him hopping inside the Assembly without a mundu (a traditional garment worn around the waist) during the Budget session of 2015. Screengrabs were circulated in the constituency and BJP leaders brought this up in almost every speech.

“The world saw his real colours and dignity. This election, he will have no place to hide,” says T Sajeevan, a BJP sympathiser. His optimism stems from the BJP’s emphatic victory in the local polls. The party won 17 of the 22 corporation wards that account for 45.8% of the votes Chandrasekhar won in the 2024 Lok Sabha poll battle with the Congress’s Shashi Tharoor, and governs the corporation.

However, the LDF cadre are equally buoyant. Sivankutty has projected the development plank. He has distributed an exhaustive pamphlet listing out the Rs 900 crore development he has brought to Nemom in an attempt to weaken Chandrasekhar’s repeated jabs about the Left’s “anti-development” stasis.

Sivankutty’s open challenge to Chandrasekhar for a debate and a Facebook post inviting Modi to ”developed Nemom” have gathered online plaudits and late impetus. Even his recent bouts of poor health — he was rushed to hospital last year after falling ill in the middle of an Assembly session — have not dimmed his vigour. “He has been active as usual and has been campaigning door to door. He is a real on-the-field warrior with a real connection with the voters,” says Suresh, who has been part of most LDF rallies.

The third man

Complicating the equation is the UDF’s K S Sabarinadhan, a former legislator and the son of late Congress leader G Karthikeyan. The BJP will benefit if Sabarinadhan manages to get the votes of Muslims, who number around 26,000 in the constituency. Though the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) — which emerged from the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI), has faced allegations of communalism — has rallied behind Sivankutty, there are dissenting voices in the minority community.

“He projects himself as a secular, but he has not been sensitive to our problems. He has, however, brought development,” says local Syed Meeran. The “problem” he is referring to is the minister’s revision of school timings despite Islamic organisations requesting him not to change it as it interferes with madrasa timings.

Sabarinadhan, a 43-year-old engineering graduate, could reprise K Muralitharan’s role in the previous polls in which he mustered 25.01% of the votes, eating into the shares of both Sivankutty (38.24%) and Kummanam Rajasekharan (35.54%). All three belong to the predominant Nair community, highlighting the significance of the collective Ezhava, Nadar, and Christian votes. The Nair votes here have traditionally swung between the UDF and NDA. But if it gets scattered between the two, the Left could stand to benefit, as Muslim, Ezhava and Nadar voters have historically allied with them. On the other hand, if either the UDF or the NDA harnesses the bulk of Nair votes, they may enjoy an edge.

Thus, even a nudge one way or the other could swing the poll equations. But in Nemom, the locals wish they could fast-forward to the climax.