It’s Mani vs Mani in Kerala’s high-stakes Pala constituency

It’s all in the name. And that’s what the battle of Pala in Kerala’s Kottayam district is all about. The fight is between incumbent Pala legislator Mani C Kappan and Kerala Congress (M)’s Jose K Mani.

It’s all in the name. And that’s what the battle of Pala in Kerala’s Kottayam district is all about. The fight is between incumbent Pala legislator Mani C Kappan and Kerala Congress (M)’s Jose K Mani. Jose switched from the United Democratic Front (UDF) to Left Democratic Front (LDF) while Kappan went the other way. Kappan announced a new political party, the Nationalist Congress Kerala (NCK), on February 22 this year, joining the Congress-led UDF. Son of veteran Kerala Congress (M) leader KM Mani, Jose walked out of the UDF in October 2020 to join the LDF. Pala is predominantly Syrian Catholics and accounts for almost 65 per cent of the population there. The constituency is popularly known as the rubber heartland and is also one of the gateways to the Western Ghats.