THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPM leader K Sreekumar will be the Left front’s candidate for the Thiruvananthapuram corporation mayor election to be held on Tuesday. The CPM district secretariat will convey the decision to the party state committee. Sreekumar is the councilor from Chakkai ward.
The mayor’s election was necessitated after incumbent VK Prasanth was elected legislator from Vattiyoorkavu assembly constituency in the recent byelections.
Sreekumar, a close relative of CPM leader and minister for Cooperation and Devaswoms, Kadakampally Surendran is currently the chairman of the corporation standing committee on health.While a section of the party leadership had strongly recommended the name of young leader and Kunnukuzhi ward councillor I P Binu for the post, the party leadership had zeroed in on the candidature of veteran leader Sreekumar.
BJP would be fielding its senior leader MR Gopan for mayor’s post, while the UDF candidate is most likely to be Anil Kumar of the Congress.
While the LDF have 43 councillors in the corporation, the BJP has 35 and the UDF 21. There were reports of BJP and UDF joining hands to oust the LDF. The move was dropped fearing political backlash in the ensuing local body polls.