KOCHI: Springing a surprise, the CPM on Thursday named Dr Jo Joseph, a cardiologist at the Church-run Lisie Hospital, Ernakulam, as its candidate for the Thrikkakara assembly bypoll. The 43-year-old will contest in the CPM party symbol in a change from the Left’s usual practice of fielding independent candidates in Thrikkakara.
“Dr Jo Joseph is a party member. There is no question of unfamiliarity. He’s a popular doctor and a gem of a candidate for the Thrikkakara constituency,” LDF convenor E P Jayarajan said at a news conference at Lenin Centre, the party’s Ernakulam headquarters. A resident of Vazhakkala in the Thrikkakara constituency, Dr Joseph, who is seen as a nominee of the Church, took even the hardcore party cadre by surprise with many CPM loyalists sharing the photo of another person on social media. But the declaration of Dr Joseph’s name and his launch were well-crafted and dramatic.
After Jayarajan, along with CPM central committee member and Industries Minister P Rajeeve, Ernakulam district secretary C N Mohanan and CPM state secretariat member M Swaraj, made the announcement at the Lenin Centre around 3.15pm, the venue shifted to Lisie Hospital, about a kilometre away.
There, within minutes of the official announcement, Dr Joseph addressed the media along with Dr Jose Chacko Periappuram, a cardiothoracic surgeon known for many successful heart transplants — both in proper doctor’s scrub— and Fr (Dr) Paul Karedan, chief executive trustee, Lisie Medical Institutions, even as Rajeeve and Mohanan joined the presser midway. “Only this morning I came to know that my name was being considered,” Dr Joseph told reporters.
‘We considered only one name’
“I’ve always been a Left supporter and I believe only the Left front can take the state on the path of development and progress,” Dr Joseph told reporters. But his nervousness of being thrown into the political limelight all of a sudden was very visible right through the press conference.
The CPM announcement came after a day of intense speculation that its young leader K S Arun Kumar maybe selected as the party candidate. Names of a few dissident Congress leaders too were doing the rounds. “We have considered only one name and that’s the name of Dr Jo Joseph,” said Rajeeve.
By fielding Joseph, a Roman Catholic, the LDF and the CPM hope to get the support of a section of the Christian voters in the constituency. Also, P T Thomas, the Congress leader whose demise necessitated the bypoll, had openly criticised the Church for opposing the implementation of the Kasturirangan and Gadgil reports, which called for the conservation of Western Ghats. Jayarajan said he expects Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to address a party convention in Thrikkakara on May 15. “The entire party machinery will be involved in the election campaign,” he said.