Rahul to announce four candidates; Adoor Prakash, Shanimol confirm seats

Rahul to announce four candidates; Adoor Prakash, Shanimol confirm seats, Siddique likely from Wayanad
Shanimol Usman, Adoor Prakash and T Siddique

New Delhi: Adoor Prakash will be the Congress candidate for the Attingal Lok Sabha seat. Meanwhile, Shanimol Usman and T Siddique are likely to be the party’s nominees in Alappuzha and Wayanad respectively. However, the candidate for Vadakara is yet to be finalized.

Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala has returned to Kerala after the discussions to choose the candidates, who will be announced by party national president Rahul Gandhi.

Suspense prevailed over the nominees in four seats after the ‘A’ and ‘I’ groups in the party fought over the Wayanad seat. There were reports that Malappuram district congress committee chief V V Prakash was the front-runner for Wayanad. Others under consideration are T Siddique and Shanimol Usman. In the meantime, Shanimol returned to Alappuzha.

At present, the name of Youth Congress leader Praveen Kumar is doing the rounds for the Vadakara seat.  

The ‘I’ group is firmly opposing the move by the ‘A’ group to field Siddique from Wayanad. Mukul Wasnik, AICC general secretary in charge of Kerala, held discussions in Delhi with Oommen Chandy, Chennithala and KPCC chief Mullappally Ramachandran to solve the issue. During the talks, Chandy stuck to his stand regarding Siddique in Wayanad. Moreover, Siddique himself made it clear that he would keep away from the contest if Wayanad was not granted to him.

However, ‘I’ group responded by saying that the seat was traditionally allotted to it during the past several elections and suggested three names, including Shanimol.

Meanwhile, Vidya Balakrishnan, who was suggested for Vadakara, is no longer in the reckoning. Though Bindu Krishna was approached, she has not revealed her mind. With RMP publicly announcing its support for the UDF candidate, pressure is mounting on Mullappally to contest from the seat. However, Mullappally has declined the offer.

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