Water, nothing but water, continues to be the sole election plank in Chittur, one of the oldest Assembly segments in Palakkad district, in spite of having been represented 14 times by different political leaders since the formation of Kerala.
The incumbent, Minister for Water Resources K. Krishnankutty, represented Chittur four times (in 1980, 1982, 1991 and 2016). Congress leader K. Achuthan represented Chittur four times consecutively for 20 years from 1996. They claim that they did their best for Chittur. Yet, Chittur remains one of the least developed constituencies in the district.
When K. Krishnankutty, Sumesh Achuthan, and N. Natesan, the three key contestants of Chittur representing the Left Democratic Front (LDF), the United Democratic Front (UDF), and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) respectively, met face to face at the Press Club here on Tuesday, they had nothing but water to talk about.
As incumbent, Mr. Krishnankutty was thorough with the figures of water reaching Kerala from Tamil Nadu and that of water going to Tamil Nadu from Kerala. Yet, he warned that any campaign against the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) would be detrimental for Chittur. “If you oppose KIIFB, it will be tantamount to opposing the development of Chittur. So much has been done for the development of Chittur with KIIFB support in the last five years,” he said. He also warned that river linking projects would ultimately be disastrous for Kerala.
Sumesh Achuthan said that there was much to be done for Chittur, including renewal and revision of the Parambikulam-Aliyar water agreement with Tamil Nadu. He said more could be done to help paddy and coconut farmers of Chittur. He also offered to renew the efforts to set up an agricultural college in Chittur. However, Mr. Sumesh agreed that development in Chittur lacked speed because of the unique socio-political atmosphere of the region.
Mr. Natesan, in his inimitable Palakkad slang, blamed both the UDF and LDF candidates and their predecessors for the lack of development in Chittur. Quoting verses in Malayalam, Tamil and Sanskrit, Mr. Natesan said that he would bring in tangible changes to Chittur if elected. “And I’m sure that I will win this election. People of Chittur are fed up of these two friends. They want a change,” he said.
