Big three in Kerala Congress to decide on bypoll candidates

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The UDF candidates for the upcoming bypoll, barring the one in Manjeshwar, will be decided by the Congress’ top brass in the state without discussing the matter in the powerful political affairs committee of the party.KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran, AICC general secretary Oommen Chandy and Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala will finalise the party candidates for the Vattiyoorkavu, Konni, Aroor and Ernakulam assembly seats, while the state committee meeting of the Indian Union Muslim League will decide the candidate for the Manjeshwar seat.

K Muraleedharan, Adoor Prakash and Hibi Eden who had quit the assembly seats to contest the Lok Sabha polls will also have a major say in selecting the candidates in their respective constituencies. This apart, feedback will be taken from the party local leaders to get a proper assessment of the proposed candidates. While there are more than 10 aspirants for each seat, it is learnt that the Congress state leadership has zeroed in on a few names and will finalise the list in a couple of days.

Mullappally, Chandy and Ramesh will meet on Tuesday and will have a clear understanding of the candidates. While the leaders vouch for winnability as the only criterion for candidature, the powerful group leaders will also have a major say. In Vattiyoorkavu, ‘I’ group will have an active role in choosing the candidate and both Chennithala and Muraleedharan have already proposed the name of N Peethambara Kurup, who is an ardent loyalist of the group and the late K Karunakaran.

Attingal MP Adoor Prakash will have the final say in finalising the candidature at Konni and there are clear indications that he has proposed the name of Robin Peter for the seat. The Congress leadership is aware that Konni was an LDF turf and it was only owing to the electioneering skills of Adoor Prakash that helped the party wrest the seat, and this will give the candidate proposed by him an added advantage.

While former MP K V Thomas is trying to push for his candidature from Ernakulam seat, Hibi Eden, who had vacated the seat, is in favour of T J Vinodh, Kochi Deputy Mayor and DCC president. Earlier, Congress MLAs from Ernakulam district V D Satheeshan, Anwar Sadat and Roji M John had opposed K V Thomas’ candidature for the Ernakulam LS seat, following which the mantle fell on Hibi Eden. Party sources indicated that a similar situation continues even now

The Aroor Dilemma
In Aroor, there is a major issue cropping up regarding the candidature of Shanimol Usman. It is learnt that party senior leaders in the district are not comfortable with giving the seat to Shanimol, though she is now close to ‘A’ group.  “There are some problems regarding the candidature of Shanimol Usman and AICC general secretary Oommen Chandy will finalise the name of the Congress candidate for Aroor as this is an ‘A’ group seat,” a senior Congress leader told ‘Express’.

decision makers 
lKPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran, AICC general secretary Oommen Chandy and Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala will finalise the party candidates for the Vattiyoorkavu, Konni, Aroor and Ernakulam assembly seats, lThe state committee meeting of the Indian Union Muslim League will decide the candidate for the Manjeshwar seat.