Tuesday, October 11 2005 13:32 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Thiruvananthapuram: After a breather following the civic polls, major political players in Kerala are gearing up for the Lok Sabha by-election from Thiruvananthapuram slated for November 18 to fill the lower house berth left vacant by the death of veteran CPI leader P K Vasudevan Nair.

If the local body polls were seen as a 'dress rehearsal' just seven months ahead of the assembly poll, the battle for the parliament seat from the state capital could be taken as a keenly played one-dayer ahead of the battle of ballots to capture the power between the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) and the opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF).

In the UDF, Thiruvananthapuram seat belongs to the Congress and it has for long been the Communist Party of India's (CPI) quota in the LDF.

For the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), this is the only seat in Kerala where the saffronites have made their political presence felt creating the impressions of a true triangular contest last time.

Though the morale in the LDF camp is very high after its resounding victory in the local body polls in general and in the state capital in particular, the CPI is finding it not that easy to find a suitable candidate who could stand in comparison with Vasudevan Nair, a former Chief Minister with unsullied image.

The party's state secretariat met here today ahead of the state council scheduled for October 13 and 14 where the candidature is expected to be finalised.