George Abraham, Vice-chair of Indian Overseas Congress, concluded his campaign efforts on behalf of Shashi Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram with much optimism that he will ultimately be the winner in a three-way contest that pitted him against BJP’s Rajiv Chandrasekhar and CPI’s Pannyan Ravindran. “It was indeed a tough battle and we are confident that Tharoor will prevail. Undoubtedly there is an anti-incumbency factor that Tharoor had to deal with plus the avalanche of money that was flooded into the contest by the BJP candidate. Moreover, the CPI candidate was focusing on Tharoor, attacking him at every opportunity. Sadly to say, the Congress organization across the constituency did not rise up to meet the challenge. However, I found a lot of enthusiasm among grassroots who hold no particular title or are not part of the elite class. They are the ones who will be heralded as key to the success of this campaign” said George Abraham.

On the coast there were a lot of disappointments with Vizhinjam port issues, resultant soil erosion, delay in rehabilitation of the displaced and so forth. However, what happened in Manipur has indeed touched a nerve with those people and I am certain that it will be reflected in the voting. The lack of Infrastructure development was a key concern in the tribal areas and I have found there is a disconnect between Congress leaders and the tribal community that has become a big focus for BJP , especially the young people. There is little doubt that the urban elites are leaning towards BJP this time around and some of the youth might be swayed by the promises of greater IT initiatives in the constituency if Chandrasekhar wins. Muslim community by and large support Tharoor and a consolidation of minority communities and rural votes should catapult Tharoor to a great victory.