Facebook war hots up among top Kerala leaders

Thiruvananthapuram, April 23  With the Kerala assembly election around the corner, campaigning has taken a different form as several top politicians have shifted to the social media, especially Facebook, on a war footing.

The latest to jump onto the bandwagon is 92-year-old veteran CPI-M leader and former chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan. In just six days, his Facebook page has got more than one lakh likes.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, state Congress president V.M. Sudheeran and CPI-M politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan are among the others who have now become very active on social media and are using it to express their views, besides attacking one another.

Chandy and Sudheeran have taken on Achuthanandan and reminded him about various stands he took in the past and on how he has shifted from those.

On Saturday, Achuthanandan hit back at Chandy and explained his stand in a few cases, but soon, Sudheeran and Chandy returned with new posts to take on the veteran Marxist leader.

A team of professionals hand-picked by these leaders are burning the midnight oil, watching every activity on the political front, and then coming up with fresh posts.

The biggest gainer appears to be the local television media, as each fresh post is broadcast as a 'breaking news'.

Polls for the 140-member Kerala assembly will take place on May 16.