THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is almost sure that P. C. Vishnunath, will be in the fray once again for the Congress party, it is going to be a prestige fight for 'A' group in Chengannur. More than a victory for Vishnunath in the by-election, the group does not want to lose its seat. Former chief minister Oommen Chandy had refused to hold party posts taking responsibility for the drubbing in the 2016 Assembly elections. But he sees this as a prestige fight for his protege.
In 2016, CPM’s K. K. Ramachandran Nair, who died early this month, had defeated him by 7,983 votes when the BJP walked away with a large chunk of votes. A KPCC general secretary said Mr Vishnunath stood the maximum chance now. “He is getting an opportunity to better his prospects as well. Each victory for the ‘A’ group will only enable his group to gain the upper hand in the party while the ‘I’ group has got more MLAs now,” he told DC.
The KPCC will also have to consider the LDF opponent before fielding its candidate for the UDF. “If LDF picks up C. S. Sujatha, we may consider a woman candidate, either KSU vice-president Sneha R. Nair, a PG student at Maharajah’s College, Ernakulam, or Jyothi Vijayakumar, 37, famous as a translator of speeches in English,” another Congress leader said. Ms Vijayakumar's father D. Vijayakumar, the president of Chengannur Co-operative Bank, and Aby Kuriakose are also in the race.
