THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPM state secretariat on Saturday came out with a formula to resolve the Tripunithura seat issue by giving green signal for fielding DYFI state secretary M Swaraj from the constituency.
The decision came in the wake of C M Dinesh Mani’s reluctance to contest from the seat reportedly due to local opposition in some areas. While the district secretariat had recommended the name of CPM Ernakulam district secretary P Rajiv for the seat and a section of workers had even taken out a procession in his favour, the state leadership was not willing to field him.
The party leadership wants him to concentrate on organisational activities in the district. Despite state leaders led by central committee member E P Jayarajan holding several rounds of discussions with district leadership failed to reach a consensus on the seat.
The secretariat decided take back Vengara and Koothuparamaba from INL. In return CPM would give Malappuram and Kozhikode sought to INL. While P Harindran is tipped to contest from Koothuparamba, Viji will be fielded from Vengara.
On the contentious seats like Aranmula and Kollam, the secretariat is firm on going ahead with the candidature of mediaperson Veena George and actor Mukesh respectively. There were protests from a section of people against their candidature and veteran leader and sitting MLA P K Gurudasan had stated that the decision on Kollam had not been taken yet giving enough hints that he was not averse to contesting the polls.
Mediaperson M V Nikesh Kumar’s name is almost finalised for Azhikode. The decision on whether party symbol should be allotted to LDF supported independent candidates would be decided later.
The proposals finalised by secretariat would be submitted to the lower committees for further discussions. Sources said that the CPM is also keen to wait for the final list of UDF candidates to finalise its strategy
