KANNUR: The state Congress leadership’s plan to see popular leader K Sudhakaran making a mass entry as the UDF candidate in Dharmadom almost ended on Thursday with local leader C Raghunath filing his nomination papers. Congress was aiming to project the contest against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the national level and tie him to his home constituency for a considerable time. With the national leadership yet to confirm Raghunath’s candidature, Congress remains optimistic going into the final day of nomination filing.
Congress workers eagerly waited for Sudhakaran to enter the fray and neutrals expected an intriguing contest involving him, Pinarayi and former BJP president C K Padmanabhan. Though senior leaders A K Antony and Oommen Chandy tried to persuade him to contest and Congress chief Mullappally Ramachandran tried to put pressure on him in his own right, Sudhakaran stood firm.
During the last elections, Pinarayi had defeated Mambaram Divakaran by 36,905 votes in Dharmadom but Sudhakaran had trailed CPM leader P K Sreemathy by only 4,000 votes in the constituency while contesting from Kannur in the last Lok Sabha elections. Sudhakaran has been vehemently attacking the state Congress leadership during the finalising of candidates and had he decided to contest, it would have given them some respite.
Rajmohan tries to pacify Sudhakaran
Sudhakaran has been targeting Mullappally and AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, who is close to Rahul Gandhi, MP. Kasaragod MP Rajmohan Unnithan has intervened to pacify Sudhakaran and make him work for the victory of UDF candidates in Kannur.
“Sudhakaran should have avoided making public statements. Despite A K Antony’s call to maintain decorum, Sudhakaran created issues. If the Congress leadership really wanted to field a formidable leader in Dharmadom, they should have held talks within the party, the moment the Forward Bloc decided not to take the seat,” a senior Congress leader told TNIE. During the first round of talks, the name of Forward Bloc national general secretary G Devarajan did the rounds, but he refused to fight against the CPM in Kerala. The mother of the two Walayar victims refused to contest under the Congress symbol.
LOOKING FORWARD
Kannur DCC secretary C Raghunath files his nomination papers as UDF candidate after K Sudhakaran opts out National leadership yet to confirm Raghunath’s candidature
Some of the Congress workers in Kannur expect Sudhakaran to make last-minute entry Pinarayi Vijayan (CPM) and C K Padmanabhan (BJP) are in fray