THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Determined to reclaim its lost ground in the Lok Sabha polls, the CPI has decided to bank on the experience of its veterans. The party sprang no surprises on Monday as it announced the candidates for its four LS seats in Kerala – ex-MP and former state secretary Pannian Raveendran in Thiruvananthapuram, national executive member and CPI’s women face Annie Raja in Wayanad, former minister V S Sunil Kumar in Thrissur and AIYF leader CA Arun Kumar in Mavelikkara.
Should the Congress field Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad for a second time, it will result in a direct fight between two senior leaders of the INDIA bloc.
With this, CPI has become one of the first mainstream parties in the country to announce candidates for all the seats it is contesting in the LS polls.
Releasing the list, CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam said the political situation in Kerala was in favour of the LDF, and expressed confidence over the victory of the party’s candidates. He also predicted an LDF sweep in state, saying the Left front will romp home with all 20 seats.
Pannian Raveendran, the Thiruvananthapuram MP from 2005 to 2009 and CPI state secretary from 2012 to 2015, had been reluctant to return to parliamentary politics initially. However, the 78-year-old finally relented to the leadership’s pressure to contest from the prestigious seat, from where three-time Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is likely to contest again.
Pannian was not keen, gave in to party’s pressure
Similarly, the party zeroed in on Annie Raja, the general secretary of National Federation of Indian Women and wife of CPI general secretary D Raja, as it wanted a strong candidate in Wayanad, which Rahul Gandhi won in 2019 by a whopping margin of 4.31 lakh votes.
The CPI leadership has repeatedly asked Congress not to field Rahul against Left parties in Kerala where BJP is not a force to be reckoned with.
Meanwhile, the candidature of Sunil Kumar, a popular face of CPI, in Thrissur was certain even before the party launched the candidate selection process. Agriculture minister in the Pinarayi Vijayan government from 2016 to 2021,
Sunil Kumar is expected to face stiff fight from BJP’s Suresh Gopi, who has started campaigning even before his party announces its candidates. Congress is most likely to field sitting MP T N Prathapan in the constituency.
By fielding C A Arun Kumar in Mavelikkara, the CPI hopes to consolidate youth votes against Congress strongman Kodikkunnil Suresh, who is likely to seek another term from the seat. Though Arun’s name was not in the draft list sent by the CPI Kollam district council, the party’s Alappuzha and Kottayam district leaderships firmly stood behind the youth leader.