Kochi: The sudden demise of one of the most charismatic leaders of Congress, PT Thomas, has led to hot debates in political circles over who will succeed him as the legislator representing the Thrikkakara Legislative Assembly constituency. All the three major political fronts have unofficially started discussing the name of the candidate to be put up in the impending Assembly bypolls in Thrikkakara.
Since it is a Congress sitting seat, more lively discussions are going in the party over whom to be made the candidate. The rank and file of CPM and the BJP are also discussing many names. But no official discussions have been begun by any political party.
In Congress, the name of PT Thomas' wife, Uma Thomas, is mainly doing the rounds. Like her husband, Uma was an active member of the Kerala Students Union (KSU) in her college days before she got married to him. Moreover, it is felt that the emotional vibe the public had with Thomas would make things easy for Uma.
But, Uma says her present mental state is such that she cannot think about such matters.
"I'm focusing more on family matters, especially on my job and studies of my children," Uma revealed.
She is working at the accounts section of a private hospital in Kochi.
Other Congress leaders who are in the reckoning are former Mayor Tony Chammani, KPCC general secretary Deepthi Mary Varghese, former MLA Dominic Presentation and Jaison Joseph.
'A' group in the Congress considers it as their seat and wants to retain it. Dominic, Jaison and Tony belong to 'A' group. Deepthi is close to AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal's camp. A section of Congress workers are campaigning on social media for putting up KPCC vice-president VT Balram as the candidate.
The bypoll in Thrikkakara is a challenge to the Left Democratic Front. Its CPM nominees were defeated in Thrikkakara seat in all the three Assembly elections held after the formation of the Assembly segment.
Benny Behnan won in 2011 and PT Thomas in 2016 and 2021 for Congress. The LDF nominees who lost the polls from there are ME Hasainar, Dr Sebastian Paul and Dr Jacob. In the April 2021 state polls, Thomas defeated Jacob by 14,329 votes.
Many in the CPM expect that the party would field the youth leader M Swaraj to wrest the seat, which is considered to be a traditional bastion of the UDF. Some others feel that the CPM would give another chance for Jacob.
It is not clear whether the BJP would give one more chance to S Saji, who fought the elections from the constituency last time.
Twenty20's chances
Finally, everyone is keenly watching whether Twenty20 led by Kitex MD Sabu Jacob will be fielding a candidate in Thrikkakara this time. Last time, Twenty20's presence in the constituency created a political buzz. Twenty20 managed to put up a good show though its aim to trounce Thomas did not yield results.
Thomas, in turn, accused Twenty20 of playing second fiddle to the CPM and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Months after the elections, there followed a verbal spat between Thomas and Sabu Jacob over the alleged pollution caused by the Kitex company.
With the Christmas Day violence resorted to by some of the guest workers of the Kitex company in Kizhakkambalam snowballing into a major controversy, Twenty20 is now on a defensive mode.
