Thiruvananthapuram: With UDF sources confirming that KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran will be in the fray for the 2016 Assembly elections, it is going to be a battle between three strong contenders for the post of Chief Minister. Apart from Sudheeran, the other two contenders are incumbent Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Home minister Ramesh Chennithala. All these candidates can attract their community votes as well.
The imminent local body election results are going to be crucial for Chandy and Sudheeran alike. If good results are polled in favour of the Congress it could be advantage Chandy but if not, the scope of Sudheeran and Chandy would increase manifold. With the Ezhava population topping 28-29 percent in the State, for long SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellapally Natesan and community leaders have been clamoring for an Ezhava leader at the helm of the Government. From the Congress it was R. Sankar who was the last Ezhava Chief Minister for two years from 1962 onwards. But, when the LDF Government came to power, V. S. Achuthanandan, who is also an Ezhava leader, became the Chief Minister. A prominent Congress leader told DC that Sudheeran had the support of the masses, but lacked the same ‘connectivity’ among party leaders.“Vellapally and Sudheeran have always been at loggerheads. But Sudheeran has got the support of the AICC leadership.
However, he is yet to endorse the policies of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to promote young blood in to the party”, said a Congress leader under anonymity. Another Congress leader told DC that Sudheeran would not get the support of the majority of the MLAs and only a handful of KPCC leaders would root for him. But the final say on who should be the Chief Minister would be in the court of the AICC leadership including senior AICC leader A. K. Antony. “The grapevine is that Sudheeran is keen to be in the fray. Eventually a package would be worked out and Sudheeran too would be accommodated along with Oommen Chandy and Chennithala also racing to be the next Chief Minister of the State”, said a prominent KPCC general secretary. Meanwhile, KPCC is strongly contemplating coming out with a recommendation not to put up candidates who have contested more than three to four terms after the AICC leadership has decided to sideline them.
If so, it is going to mostly affect the Oommen Chandy camp as leaders like K. C. Joseph (representing Irikkur constituency in Kannur for 33 years) who is also the trusted lieutenant of the CM, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan (representing Adoor and Kottayam Assembly constituencies for five terms), Aryadan Muhammed (since 1977 from Nilambur), Palode Ravi (four times from Nedumangad) and Dominic Presentation (four times from Kochi). But Aryadan has already decided not to be in the fray, but Congress sources say that it is to accommodate his son, Aryadan Shoukath, the current municipal chairman of Nilambur.
