Despite the opinion polls and surveys conducted by the media in the State portraying the Congress trailing behind the CPI(M) in the run up to the April 6 Assembly election, the Grand Old Party is slowly and steadily fighting back and catching up in the race.
The Congress-led UDF, though handicapped by the prolonged discussions to settle the conflicts between the constituent parties in the Front as well as between various groups in the lead party, have put the differences behind them and launched the full-fledged campaign by early this week. The road show by former party chief Rahul Gandhi in the districts of Ernakulam, Kottayam has given a new life to the Congress workers and the party has come back to its fighting mood. Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandi, Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, KPCC Chief Mullappalli Ramachandran and working president K Sudhakaran MP are the frontline warriors of the party travelling across the length and breadth of the State to campaign for not only the Congress but for the candidates fielded by the constituent parties of the UDF.
The Congress was in for a shock when former minister P C Chacko, a loyalist of Sharad Pawar who did not follow his mentor when the latter walked out to float the NCP in 1998, quit the party early this month because he was denied a seat in the April 6 election.