New Delhi: Despite hectic parleys, Congress failed to reach a consensus on candidates in 10 Assembly seats on Saturday.
The Congress would be contesting in 91 seats and uncertainty over candidates has been persisting in 10 seats, including Nemom, Kollam, Kundara, Tripunithura, Nilambur, Kalppetta and Aranmula.
Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s suggestion to field P C Vishnunath in Kollam met with stiff opposition from District Congress Committee president Bindhu Krishna. Terming the demand to give the constituency to an outsider like Vishnunath is ‘injustice’, Krishna said leaders had long ago promised her the Kollam seat.
Krishna said she has been working in the constituency in the hope of becoming a candidate. The party leaders remained mum over her argument that her work so far would go in vain if she was denied the opportunity to contest the polls from Kollam.
To pacify Krishna, she was offered Kundara instead of Kollam. According to indications received late in the night, the party would consider fielding Vishnunath in Kundara and Krishna in Kollam.
Chandy is adamant on fielding former minister K Babu in Tripunithura. However, national leaders were worried that Babu’s candidature might affect the party’s fortunes in other constituencies.
Babu had to resign from the Chandy-led cabinet in January 2016 after a vigilance court ordered to register a first information report against him in the bar bribery case.
Considering the absence of woman candidate in Ernakulam distruct, the Congress also considered fielding former Kochi Corporation Mayor Soumini Jain in Tripunithura. By late night, Babu seemed to be the lone contester for the seat.
Though V V Prakash has an upper hand in Nilambur, T Siddique is also considered as the candidate. The leaders left the decision on the candidate in Kalpetta to Rahul Gandhi. Sivadasan Nair is being considered for Aranmula, where moves are also afoot for fielding youth leader Rahul Mankoottam.
