Mukundapuram (Kerala): A keen tussle is on the cards for the May 10 Lok Sabha elections from the Munkundapuram constituency, a traditional Congress bastion, where Padmaja Venugopal, making her electoral debut, is waging a do-or-die battle to retain the seat held by her father, senior Congress leader K Karunakaran, and prove her detractors wrong.

Padmaja is pitted against poll veteran Lonappan Nambadan, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) independent candidate, who is making his first attempt to the Lok Sabha. Though he had lost the 2001 election from Kodakara, he has been successful in six Assembly elections. A good orator, Nambadan uses wit and repartee to make his opponents squirm and drive home his point.

Elections 2004-The Drama unfolds...
Political Parties in India

Apart from her political heredity, Padmaja's credentials are that she had worked actively for her father during his campaigns in the Mukundapuram and Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha elections, is a member of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) executive and leader of various trade unions. She has also been the chairperson of the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC).

Leaving nothing to chance, Padmaja has also roped in the services of a public relations agency, to boost her poll prospects and is the first contestant from the State to do so.

The LDF camp is also sparing no efforts to impress the voters. Nambadan does not forget to remind listeners at his meetings that Padmaja had managed to get the ticket only because of the manoeuvrings of her father, considered the 'Chanakya' of Kerala politics.

The group rivalry in the Congress, surfacing again, leading to the suspension of Thrissur Corporation Deputy Mayor P S Johny, is also a cause of concern in the United Democratic Front (UDF) camp.

The Congress high command had second thoughts in fielding Padmaja from the constituency after doubts had been raised about her winnability. But reportedly following pressures from Karunakaran, the seat went to Padmaja.

In the 2001 Assembly elections, when the high command had refused to give a ticket to his daughter, Karunakaran had quit as permanent invitee to the CWC protesting against the "injustice" and "humiliation".

Many in the Congress have been unhappy with the decision to field Karunakaran's daughter.

According to her doting father, Padmaja has all the political qualifications to contest as she represents youth and had handled his election campaigns.

While Nambadan misses no chance to convey at his election meetings that "family rule" should not be encouraged, Padmaja points out that in the 1999 Lok Sabha election, CPM (Communist Party Marxist) had fielded the late E M Sreedharan, son of Marxist ideologue EMS Namboodiripad. Was it not "family rule" then, she asks.