THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after state Mahila Congress president Lathika Subhash quit all her party posts and got her head tonsured in public in protest against denying her a seat, the central leadership swung into action, asking the state unit to ensure women representation while finalising the six contentious seats.Nine woman candidates had figured in the Congress list announced on Sunday.
However, with Lathika’s resignation denting the party’s image, the national leadership has asked the Kerala unit to find potential woman leaders. The announcement of candidates in six contentious seats was eventually postponed to Tuesday.
The state leadership had zeroed in on P C Vishnunadh (Vattiyoorkavu), T Siddique (Kalpetta), V V Prakash (Nilambur), Kallada Ramesh (Kundara), Firoz Kunnamparambil (Tavanur) and Riyaz Mukkoli (Pattambi) for the seats, but that list may be reworked.In all likelihood, Jyothi Vijayakumar, who made a name as the translator of Rahul Gandhi’s speeches during his recent visits to the state, is expected to be pitted against CPM’s V K Prasanth in Vattiyoorkavu. Another name being considered is Youth Congress state secretary Veena S Nair.
The candidates in Dharmadom and Vadakara too have not been named yet. After holding talks with the RMP, Ramesh Chennithala said leader K K Rema would contest from Vadakara.
A Congress leader told TNIE that more trouble is brewing as all candidates being considered — except Firoz Kunnnamparambil — belong to the Oommen Chandy camp.
“The ‘A’ camp’s grievance has been that Chandy’s loyalists were sidelined. If they are included in the final list, the ‘I’ group will not sit idle. If a woman is fielded from Vattiyoorkavu, then Vishnunadh will move to Kundara,” said the leader.