THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has scored an emphatic victory over his rivals as he forced the Congress high command to field all the five sitting legislators on the chopping block of KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran after week-long talks in New Delhi.
K.C. Joseph (Irikkur), K. Babu (Tripunithura), Benny Behanan (Thrikkakara), Adoor Prakash (Konni) and Dominic Presentation (Kochi) would now be contesting from their respective constituencies. Mr Chandy, who arrived at the Cochin airport early this morning, held a group meeting there attended by
Mr Babu and Mr Bahanan.
The high command is expected to release the final list of 82 candidates only on Monday. Mukul Wasnik, AICC general secretary in charge of the state is currently in Tamil Nadu and is expected to return to New Delhi on Monday.
AICC sources told said that Mukul Wasnik would hand over the list to Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday which would be approved by her then.
A few seats in Thrissur and Alappuzha are yet to be officially announced by the KPCC and AICC leaderships.
Meanwhile, KPCC president Sudheeran maintained that he stood firm in his position not to give seats to “tainted” MLAs for the good of the party.
He has managed only to get a seat for the late legislator Thoppil Ravi’s son Sooraj Ravi in Kollam.
Mr Chandy informed the AICC leadership that if the five sitting MLAs are denied tickets, then he would also step down as the allegations are targeted at him as the captain of the team.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was able to reinforce his position before the AICC leadership where he had the gumption to say ‘no’ to their suggestions. Mr Chandy shied away from replying to reporters’ questions whether he was happy with the turn of events. He said he would comment on it later.
Later in Kottayam, Mr Chandy quipped Mr Prakash need not contest from Konni as an independent. The minister had claimed the other day that he was under pressure to contest as an independent. “Mr Sudheeran is working for the betterment of the party. The high command will announce the list of candidates which would be approved by all," said Mr Chandy.
A consensus was reached to field 34 of the 39 sitting Congress MLAs while senior ministers C.N. Balakrishnan (Wadakkanchery) and Aryadan Mohammed (Nilambur) and TN Prathapan (Kodungallur) opted out and Therambil Ramakrishnan (Thrissur) and P.A. Madhavan (Manaloor) lost their seats.
AICC leadership came to the reasoning that if ‘winnability’ is being considered, then all the sitting five MLAs have to be in the fray, forcing them to concede Mr Chandy’s demand. A Congress leader told DC that if any of the ‘tainted’ sitting MLAs face defeat, it would be the sole responsibility of Mr Chandy and no one else.
Mr Sudheeran and A. K. Antony were of the opinion that since Bindu Krishna had lost twice in Chathannur Assembly and Attingal Lok Sabha elections, she should not be given a third chance, which led to the entry of the ‘new kid on the block’ Mr Ravi, 40, in the ‘star’ seat of Kollam against actor Mukesh, fielded by the CPM.
Mr Sudheeran and Mr Chennithala remained in New Delhi and continued with their unofficial talks until the afternoon before the former left for Thiruvananthapuram. Mr Sudheeran told reporters that he did not have animosity towards anyone. He urged all the leaders to abide by the AICC leadership’s decision.
"It was the AICC leadership that sent me to Kerala to head the party. I don't have any intention to create issues within. There should be efforts from the party workers to work towards the continuity of the UDF government," he said.
