THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : In keeping with last-minute surprises, the Congress finally brought out its candidate list for 16 seats in Kerala. Two national leaders – Rahul Gandhi and K C Venugopal – and one woman are among the party candidates from the state. The list has 14 sitting Lok Sabha MPs, one Rajya Sabha MP and one MLA. As TNIE reported on Friday, Vadakara MP K Muraleedharan has been shifted to Thrissur.
Friday’s surprise candidate was Palakkad MLA Shafi Parambil who has been asked to contest from Vadakara. The former Youth Congress president was initially reluctant to take up the challenge in Vadakara where he would take on senior CPM leader K K Shailaja. It is learnt that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was specifically looking to meet communal balance in the candidate list from Kerala. A source from New Delhi told TNIE that the central leadership was keen on one more woman candidate.
For the third time, K Muraleedharan has been given the daunting task of clinching Thrissur where BJP’s trump card Suresh Gopi and CPI’s V S Sunil Kumar are expected to put up a formidable fight.
A senior leader close to Muraleedharan told TNIE that he was looking for a change of seat in Malabar. “But when he realised that it was not going to happen, he decided to concentrate on Vadakara. Rumours were rife that TN Prathapan does not have winning chances in Thrissur. The Congress top brass was aware of Padmaja Venugopal’s move to join the saffron camp. This led Opposition Leader V D Satheesan to come up with a formula of fielding Muraleedharan in Thrissur and a minority candidate in Vadakara. It would benefit other candidates in Malabar,” he said.
With the Congress state leadership standing firm on its demand that Rahul Gandhi should defend Wayanad seat, he agreed. The leaders said that when Wayanad was going through a volatile situation due to man–animal conflicts, Rahul opting out would not look appropriate. In the case of Venugopal, the central leadership wanted to wrest the seat from the CPM.
“The central leadership hopes to get close to 150 seats while they feel the NDA might get 220 – 230 seats. The remaining seats are being tabulated among other INDIA allies. Once election dates are announced, BSP is also expected to join INDIA bloc. Hence the leadership wants to field formidable and winnable candidates so that the Congress strength can be increased in Lok Sabha”, said a top Congress leader.
In remaining 12 seats, sitting MPs will contest. The Congress candidates will kick off official campaigning from Saturday onward as LDF and BJP candidates have made great strides in some constituencies.
Hassan to be given charge of KPCC prez
In all likelihood, UDF convener M M Hassan will be given charge of KPCC president since Sudhakaran is a candidate in Kannur. Members of KPCC election campaign committee are also expected to be announced soon.