THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and home minister Ramesh Chennithala are up in arms against KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran's move to avoid MLAs, who have contested more than three or four times. With just 50 days left before the Assembly elections, it is going to be a huge headache for the AICC leadership.
When the three were huddled together to shortlist the candidates last week, Mr Sudheeran insisted that a panel of leaders’ names should be included along with the sitting MLAs. Mr Chandy and Mr Chennithala immediately objected to it, but AICC general secretary in charge of the state, Mukul Wasnik, agreed to Sudheeran’s move.
But Sudheeran was not keen to antagonise the two leaders and decided to leave it there. However, when the three leaders sat together again on Saturday morning, he raised the issue again much to the displeasure of the other two.
Party sources told DC that Mr Chandy had told Mr Sudheeran that let his name be removed first.
“Leaders belonging to both the factions have shot off several complaints to the AICC leadership against his move in naming a panel for the sitting seats. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi have been inundated with complaints against him,” said a KPCC general secretary.
Prominent ‘A’ group leaders like Thrikkakara MLA Benny Behanan and Kottayam MLA Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan are peeved at Sudheeran for bringing in P. T. Thomas in Thrikkakara and DCC president Tommy Kallani in Kottayam against these leaders.
Similarly, KPCC vice-president Laly Vincent’s name has also been included along with Ernakulam MLA Hibi Eden, which too has not gone down well with ‘I’ group leaders.
Those leaders who have shot off complaints against Mr Sudheeran feel that a panel of nominees would create confusion among voters giving out the message that confusion prevails among them.
