A popular Congress leader and central player in Kerala for long, 68-year-old Chandy assumed office on May 18 last year after the coalition unseated the CPI(M)-led LDF, securing a slender majority of 72 MLAs in the 14-member state assembly.
Considering the thin margin, scepticism was then rampant about the ministry's longevity.But right from the start Chandy exuded confidence he would be able to carry on as it is not the majority but the performance that counts.
Though in Kerala's highly politicised scenario, the LDF has never lost any chance to prick UDF claims of high performance, Chandy passed a major political test when UDF won the Piravom assembly by-poll by a comfortable margin a few months back.
When it enters the second year, UDF is faced with another challenge in the form of a by-poll from Neyyattinkara assembly segment in Thiruvananthapuram district, caused by resignation of CPI(M) MLA R Selvaraj in March. Selvaraj stunned CPI(M) by quitting the party and the assembly membership and back in the fray as the UDF candidate by joining the Congress.
LDF, which took up the fight with bravado that government's claims would be exposed, seems on the defensive at Neyyattinkara after CPI(M) came under a cloud in the wake of the murder of Marxist rebel and RMP leader T P Chandrasekharan
Observers feel if UDF wins the seat, it will certainly be a feather on Chandy
