Thiruvananthapuram: Sources close to chief minister Oommen Chandy said the AICC would choose one out of the three leaders as KPCC chief – G.Karthikeyan, V.M. Sudheeran and K. Sudhakaran. The frontrunner for the coveted post has always been Speaker Karthikeyan, followed by senior Congress leader Sudheeran.
“Karthikeyan is likely to get the coveted post as both Chandy and incumbent KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala prefer Karthikeyan to Sudheeran. But how far the latter will be able to make the party and the Government work together is anyone’s guess”, said a top Congress source.
It was only in the second stage of lobbying that Kannur MP Sudhakaran’s name had popped up. SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellapally Nateshan had also rooted for Sudhakaran and had personally talked to Union minister of defence A.K. Antony, considered to be one of the crucial arbitrators in taking the final decision, apart from the Congress president and vice-president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi respectively.
Apart from these three leaders, others in the race are: Union minister of state for home, Mullapally Ramachandran, Union minister of state for civil aviation K.C. Venugopal, KPCC vice-president M.M. Hassan and AICC secretary in charge of Tamil Nadu, V.D. Satheeshan. Recently, Chengannur MLA, P.C. Vishnunath’s name had also come up in the list of probables.
