THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With just a week to the assembly elections, KPCC leadership is upbeat about chances of coming back to power. Senior Congress leader A. K. Antony is confident. Sources close to him told DC that he is confident of retaining most of the sitting seats and there are chances of newcomers staging an upset victory in select constituencies. Antony camp feels Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘aggressive approach’ would backfire.
But a prominent ‘A’ group MLA confided to DC that it is not going to be easy for the Congress with the odds against the party now on a plethora of issues. “Ten seats are going to be crucial for the Congress, which can go either way. It also depends on how many votes Bharat Dharma Jana Sena would be able to garner in certain areas. We may have to sweat it out a lot in Parassala, Kochi and Chengannur, which are our sitting seats. Hopefully, Congress would retain Irikkur by a narrow margin on Christian sentiments,” said a Congress MLA belonging to the ‘A’ camp.
But a majority of the leaders are disappointed with Sudheeran over the surge in rebel candidates which the leadership was not able to tackle. There are reports that the concerned DCCs have not informed the KPCC leadership on the threat the rebel candidates pose.
“Mr Sudheeran has so far not coordinated the campaigning of senior leaders and whoever has come forward are doing it as per their will. AICC leaders are also frequently coming to assess the campaign. They have also been apprised about the threats local leaders are posing in certain seats which have been given scant regard,” said another Congress leader.
