Congress high command against fielding MPs in Assembly polls

Congress high command against fielding MPs in Assembly polls

New Delhi: The number of Congress representatives in the lower house of the Indian Parliament has been at its historic low since 2004 and MPs from Kerala accounts for a good share of its current tally. In the run-up to the Assembly polls, a few among them 15 Congress MPs from Kerala are reportedly harbouring a desire to return to state politics and enter the poll fray yet again after being elected to the Lok Sabha in May 2019.

Already, Malappuram MP P K Kunhalikutty of Muslim League, a Congress ally, has announced he will resign so that he can bid to enter the Legislative Assembly.

However, the Congress high command is reportedly not in favour of making sitting MPs resign and contest in the Assembly elections scheduled to be held in the state sometime in April or May.

High command sources said that with the Congress winning just 52 seats in the Lok Sabha polls in 2019, the situation on the ground is not ideal for the party to send its MPs back to state politics. The Congress is likely to adopt a similar stand in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry where Assembly elections are due next year.

Sources said the demand for fielding MPs would be considered only if the party leadership fails to find a suitable candidate having victory prospects. However, only demands put forward unanimously by the state leadership would be looked into and that too at a later stage. But the high command would send out a clear message to state units to avoid situations which warrant such demands

The high command believes that if relaxation is granted in one particular case then more MPs would come up with similar demands. Rahul Gandhi, also an MP from Kerala, is also likely to emphasise on this aspect at the upcoming meeting with leadership of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) over poll preparations.

The state leadership of the Congress has so far not demanded that some MPs should be asked to contest in the state polls. It is unlikely to consider or encourage this move especially when the prospects of Congress-led United Democratic Front to return to power in Kerala is generally considered bleak.

The MPs would be asked to submit names of at least two prospective candidates for the Assembly constituencies falling within their parliamentary segment. The high command and state leadership of the Congress will direct the MPs to propose names considering winnability factors and not merely on the basis of factions.

Apart from the list of prospective candidates to be submitted by the KPCC, the names proposed by the MPs would also be considered by the high command before taking a final decision.

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