Sabarinadhan reaches Bonakkad for campaign

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: UDF candidate K S Sabarinadhan, in the fray for the assembly elections, visited the labour quarters at the closed down Bonakkad estate on Saturday.
No assembly election candidates, including G Kathikeyan, had visited the estate after it was closed down some 17 years ago. Mahavir Plantations, the estate owners, have almost abandoned the 1,500-hectare estate.
TOI had on Saturday reported the plight of voters in Bonakkad and how they were ignored by political parties and candidates.
Sabarinadhan who reached the estate around 4.45pm, spent hardly 20 minutes there. "There was no lengthy speech or any promise. He just asked us to vote for him and went,'' a labourer said.
The INTUC union of the Congress became defunct in Bonakkad several years ago. The three trade unions, CITU, BMS and HMS still function there, however none of their leaders are from Bonakkad.
Meanwhile, CPM candidate M Vijayakumar and BJP's O Rajagopal are learnt to have decided to pay a visit to Bonakkad on Sunday and Monday.
The Bonakkad ward in Vithura panchayat has 775 votes. Many of them who have left for the nearby Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu are often taken to the estate by political parties on the election day to enable them to cast their votes.