Kerala Assembly polls: Congress yet to settle tiffs over candidate selection

With the Assembly elections in Kerala close, Kerala Congress is yet to settle their house as endless tiffs and arguments within the party continue to spill into the public domain. Leaders within the party have expressed their dissent over the selection of candidates for the upcoming election.

Thiruvananthapuram:Even as Mullappally Ramachandran, president of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) says the candidate list for Congress is the best in Kerala, KPCC working president K Sudhakaran has publicly expressed his dissent in the candidate selection. Sudhakaran has stated that he is not happy with the candidate selection and that he would say his opinions in front of anyone. The fight is with the Left and we have full hopes of becoming victorious, Sudhakaran added.

Open arguments on the candidate selection for the Irikkur constituency in the Kannur district still continues in Congress. Though M.M. Hassan and K.C. Joseph reached and discussed attempting to arrive at a consensus, the workers are divided into two factions and continue with their protests. The incumbent MLA K C Joseph has clarified that he is not ready to be a ‘consensus candidate’ in Irikkur.

A similar situation prevails in Nilambur also. The local Congress arms in Nilambur continue their public protests and demonstration against the party’s decision to field V V Prakashan. Their demand is to field Aryadan Shoukkath, who had contested and lost in the last elections.

National leader Tariq Anwar, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in charge of Kerala, denied allegations that he chose candidates from his favourites. Anwar said Congress’s candidate list in Kerala is the best.

Congress leadership denounced former Mahila Congress president Lathika Subash, who had tonsured her head marking her protest in the candidate selection in the party, resigned from the AICC membership and declared that she would contest as an independent from Ettumanoor.

KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran said that the topic related to Lathika Subash is a closed chapter. He added that he would come up with more information on the relation between Lathika subash and the CPM.

It is being hinted that former AICC working committee member PC Chacko, who had recently quit the party, would go hand in hand with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). PC Chacko said that he would be meeting Sharad Pawar, NCP president on Tuesday. PC Chacko has revealed that he is interested in cooperating with the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala. Presently, the NCP is an ally with the LDF in Kerala. PC Chacko is also to meet CPM national general secretary Sitaram Yechury also on Tuesday.