THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the Congress party announcing its final list of candidates, the faction led by AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal has gained complete dominance over other groups. Of the 92 names announced, over one third are Venugopal loyalists.
The faction is estimated to have around 35 candidates across the state. A significant section of Venugopal-backed candidates are contesting in Thrissur district, which accounts for five. Ernakulam has the least representation with just one. Idukki, Thiruvananthapuram, Malappuram and Kozhikode districts have around three candidates each aligned with him.
In the first list, 16 candidates were identified as belonging to the Venugopal camp.
Senior leader Ramesh Chennithala, who once held sway over the ‘I’ group, appears to be in second place with around 20 candidates said to be loyal to him. In the first list, he was able to include nine loyalists. Party sources, however, noted that due to the fluid state of factional loyalties, the actual number of candidates aligned to Chennithala may decline.
Several candidates claimed by the Chennithala faction are close to Venugopal too. Once the seat selection process began, many realised that aligning with Venugopal improved their chances of securing a ticket. “Those who shifted allegiance survived,” said a Chennithala loyalist.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan appears to have suffered the most, having failed to muster as strong a support base across districts as others. “Satheesan did have loyalists and argued for their inclusion but ultimately had fewer than ten people with him,” another leader said.
Though the ‘A’ group claims to have around 21 candidates in the list, that number too has been contested. The original ‘A’ group has largely disintegrated, with P C Vishnunadh and Shafi Parambil mobilising younger leaders into their own faction. Several candidates who secured tickets are now aligned with the Vishnu-Shafi camp.
UDF convener Adoor Prakash, now seen as close to Venugopal, managed to accommodate two of his loyalists. Kodikkunnil Suresh and Benny Behanan secured one each, while two loyalists of Anto Antony were also included.
Senior leaders from the Chennithala camp left out of the list are political affairs committee member N Subramaniyan, Ajay Tharayil, Joseph Vazhakkan and Babu Prasad.