Mumbai, April 23 -- As CK Padmanabhan, 70, the BJP's candidate in North Kerala's Kannur, sees it, the differences between the communists and the combine of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, is "very narrow". Both are cadre-based organisations, both believe strongly in the ideologies they stand for. Never mind that those ideas are exactly the opposite of each other. "We used to say in Red Fort the red flag will flutter, that was our dream," says the RSS man, smiling, as the Bhagwa Dhwaja or RSS saffron flag flutters above. At the bus stop in Kannur where he is speaking, there is a poster overhead of a communist "martyr," killed, allegedly by members of the RSS. Now, in an election season, the killings are the single-most important election issue. Especially in villages controlled by either side....