Movie stars add glamour to Kerala by-poll; Suresh Gopi, Innocent campaign for candidates

KOCHI: To add glamour quotient to their campaign, political fronts are taking the help of leading stars in the Malayalam film industry to appeal for votes in Aruvikkara, where the campaign for the bypoll has entered its last phase.

Suresh Gopi, one of the leading stars in Malayalam, and Innocent, actor and Lok Sabha MP from Chalakkudy, were the two film personalities to tour the constituency on Tuesday talking to people and speaking at public meetings.

Suresh Gopi campaigned for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate O Rajagopal. The actor, who spoke at nine public meetings, asked the people to vote for change as development is just a dream in Aruvikkara.

The Vizhinjam port project would create world-class infrastructure in the region, he said. The Centre has already expressed its willingness to favourably consider the demand for an additional bench of the Kerala High Court at Thiruvananthapuram. He said he would support the demand to set up the High Court bench at Aruvikkara.

Chalakkudy MP Innocent asked the people to vote for M Vijayakumar, the candidate of the Left Democratic Front (LDF). "These days we hear only stories of corruption," he said. His request to the people of Aruvikkara was to vote against corruption.

With just four days left for polling, the campaign has attained a feverish pitch. For the UDF, senior leader AK Antony is joining the campaign in the last phase.

There are also talks that the UDF is bringing in yesteryear's actress of Malayalam cinema Sheela to enliven the campaign. For LDF, opposition leader VS Achuthanandan is the main crowd puller even in the last phase of polls.