Kannur: It will not be smooth going for Culture Minister K.C. Joseph in Irikkur constituency as protests have erupted over his bid to seek re-election from there for the eighth time. The Youth Congress and KSU workers took out a march on Sunday demanding his withdrawal from the poll fray. They also burnt the minister in effigy and pasted posters across the constituency against him. Mr Joseph, who hails from Kottayam, has been representing Irikkur in Kannur district for the last 35 years.
The Youth Congress workers also staged a blockade on Irikkur-Blathoor road over the minister’s inaction in repairing the road. The Congress workers from the region have been demanding to field a new face from Irikkur for a long time. The workers are also unhappy that a Kannur native could not get a chance to represent the constituency.
Mr Joseph, however, brushed aside the protests and said they were not Congress workers. The Kannur DCC also maintained that the official units of the Youth Congress and the KSU had no role in the protests.
It is learnt that Mr Joseph is a frontrunner to contest again from the stronghold of the Congress party, although the district is a CPM bastion.
