NEW DELHI: The ball, now, is in Oommen Chandy’s court. Putting the fate of Congress party entirely on Oommen Chandy’s shoulders, the Congress High command today released the candidate list which reflects most of his demands.
Except that of Benny Behanan, all the names which KPCC president V M Sudheeran had been opposing have found their way to the list .
After listening to all, the central leadership has announced the list. Now it is up to the Kerala leaders, especially Oommen Chandy, to ensure the victory of Congress candidiates,’’ a central leader told Express.
According to sources, the fate of Benny Behanan was sealed after intervention from the central leadreship. The central leadership was also in favour of P T Thomas. When his name was brought up, Rahul Gandhi also supported him. That is how his name got figured in the list though his name was not in the initial list,’’ said the source.
Thomas understands non-conventional brand of politics,’’ said a central leader. He pointed out P T Thomas’ meeting with Anna Hazare during the anti corruption movement. He is also learnt to have the support of Antony.
All other names - K Babu, Dominic Presentation, Adoor Prakash and KC Joseph have their names in the list that Oommen Chandy finally gave
The much prolonged Congress saga came to an end with Congress President Sonia Gandhi giving her final stamp of approval around 9 pm on Monday.
The list was in principle approved yesterday itself. But it got delayed as Mukul Wasnik was away in Tamil Nadu,’’ said a Congress leader.
The discussions between the Central leadership and Congress leaders had been on for the last one week and had got delayed over the turf war between Oommen Chandy and KPCC president V M Sudheeran.