THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The seat-sharing talks among constituents in the United Democratic Front for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections ended on a peaceful note. Without disturbing the past equations, the Congress will contest in 17 seats, Indian Union Muslim League in two and Kerala Congress (Mani) in one. The demands for a seat by JSS and Communist Marxist Party have been turned down.
The decisions were taken at the UDF meeting held here on Tuesday. Though IUML demanded an additional seat apart from Malappuram and Ponnani, the Congress refused to accept the demand. The issue was settled after bilateral talks held between the leaders of the two parties. IUML had demanded the Wayand seat.
For Kerala Congress faction led by K.M.Mani, it was decided to give Kottayam seat since its traditional bastion Muvattupuzha has undergone major changes in the delimitation process.
Though JSS led by K.R. Gowri asked for the Alappuzha seat, the Congress leaders was not willing to accept this. There was some debate only when the CMP led by M.V. Raghavan asked for the Vadakara seat. The Congress leaders protested against this and said that the party would not surrender this seat to anyone at any cost.
The CMP’s demand was based on successive defeats faced by the Congress candidates in this constituency. However, the Congress leaders told the CMP leaders that this could not be considered as a reason for the CMP to stake its claim to the seat. Later, CMP leaders urged the Congress leadership that when the candidate for the Vadakara constituency was finalised, the opinion of the UDF partners should also be taken into account. To this, the Congress leaders said though the opinion of the constituents will be considered, the final decision will be with the Congress. The list of Congress candidates will be finalised only after the culmination of the ongoing yatra being carried out by KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala. The party high command has asked the state leadership to submit the list of three best suitable candidates from each constituencies.
