Shanimol likely for Alappuzha

Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress factions are bent on fighting it out though the UDF had sensed an advantage in the elections.  With CWC member Oommen Chandy  managing to  bag the seats for his loyalists,  Opposition Lea-der Ramesh Chennithala left for Kochi from Delhi in a huff on Monday.

Though the AICC has not officially announced the candidates  in the four elusive seats, sources said that Shanimol Usman will contest from Alappuzha and  Adoor Prakash from Attingal. Chandy loyalist T. Siddique,  Kozhikode DCC president, will get Wayanad in all probability.   Efforts were  on to convince KPCC president Mullapally Ramachandran to contest from Vatakara and create a hatrick.

 “Though the KPCC had claimed earlier that candidates will be chosen on  merit,  Chandy  resorted to pressure tactics  and ensured seats for Benny Behanan (Chalakudy), Dean Kuriakose (Idukki) and Siddique (Wayanad),”  said a senior Congress MLA. Chennithala got Ernakulam for  Hibi Eden, but  failed to secure Idukki for Joseph Vazhakkan.  Though Adoor Prakash originally belongs to the Chennithala camp, he is  acceptable to Chandy. Dis-sent voices may be heard in public in the coming days. The   Congress high command had received dozens of fax messages from the state against the proposed candidates in  Wayanad and Vatakara.

Wayanad Lok Sabha seat that was formed  in 2009 after delimitation has been a Congress stronghold. In the 2009 LS election, Che-nnithala had deputed M. I. Shanavas to Wayanad from Kochi, and he won it defeating  CPI’s M. Rahmatullah by over 1.53 lakh votes. Later in 2014,  Shanavas’s  margin came down to 20, 870  against CPI’s Sathyan Mokeri.  The Chandy camp is confident of Siddique pulling an easy victory as he was  voted as the best DCC president in the secret survey initiated by the AICC leadership.