THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: If one thought the Congress would have a smooth sailing in the run-up to the assembly elections for a change this time after the impressive Aishwarya Kerala Yatra and strong intervention by AICC, candidate selection plunged into crisis on Wednesday.
First, K Muraleedharan, MP, skulked for the second day from a breakfast meeting of Congress MPs with top state leaders in New Delhi.
Then by afternoon, four-time Lok Sabha member P C Chacko announced his resignation from the party, citing groupism in the state unit and inefficient AICC leadership.
Despite these setbacks, the KPCC leadership expressed the hope that the talks, continuing since Monday evening, with the AICC’s candidate screening committee could be completed by Thursday and pass on the recommended nominee list to the central election committee headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The AICC leadership is learnt to have asked Ramesh Chennithala and Oommen Chandy whether they would take up the challenge to contest from difficult seats like Nemom, Vattiyoorkavu or Kazhakoottam.
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Following Chacko’s criticism against rampant factionalism, the AICC leadership is not likely to entertain the group leaders’ nominees at any cost. Already, the odds are against the candidature of Chandy nominee K C Joseph and Chennithala loyalist Joseph Vazhakkan.
Muraleedharan told TNIE that he never got an invitation from the KPCC leadership to the meeting.
“One of their staff members informed my staff on Tuesday about the breakfast meeting. If they really wanted me to attend it, they would have called me directly. When AICC organising general secretary K C Venugopal bumped into me in Parliament, he invited me to meet them, including the screening committee chairman, at 5pm,” he said.
It is learnt that Muraleedharan was invited by Venugopal at the behest of Rahul Gandhi. At the evening meeting, Muraleedharan once again raised the lack of discussions happening among senior leaders, in the KPCC election committee as well as in the 10-member Chandy-headed election management and strategic committee meeting.
Muraleedharan didn’t shy away from opening up his mind against factionalism in the presence of group leaders Chandy and Chennithala, and KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran and Venugopal.
He denied TV channel reports that he had evinced keen interest in contesting from Nemom assembly constituency.
He confided that if the AICC leadership really wants him to return to state politics, he will fight in Vattiyoorkavu.
“I can wrest the seat back. But convincing my voters of Vadakara is going to be a hard task. If a candidate like Mullappally contests from Vadakara, the voters will help the Congress yet again,” he added.