Still, it’s group above party in Congress

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A bunch of senior leaders giving priority to group over party is delaying the process of candidate selection in Congress. It has been a week since the

LDF finalised

its candidates’ list. But there is sheer confusion over the Congress candidates in most of the seats.


Even when

AICC president Rahul Gandhi

has made it clear that chance of winning alone should be made the criterion to select candidates, the group managers are lobbying for their candidates in a few seats.

In Alappuzha, when K C Venugopal made it clear that he was not contesting, the ‘I’ group nominated Babu Prasad or M Liju for the seat from the group. It is learned that ‘A’ group led by Oommen Chandy is lobbying for former Chengannur MLA P C Vishnunath.

Similarly, when Benny Behannan, an ‘A’ group leader, is being pitched for the Chalakkudy seat, the ‘I’ group has demanded the Thrissur seat as a balancing act. In Ernakulam, the ‘I’ group has staked claim since this seat has been traditionally with the group for years. That was the reason why MLA Hibi Eden is being considered in place of current MP K V Thomas, who is not in the good books of both Ramesh Chennithala and Oommen Chandy.

In Palakkad also, the ‘I’ group nominee, V K Sreekandan, is the frontrunner. However, the ‘A’ group wants to field MLA Shafi Parambil to take on CPM’s M B Rajesh. In Idukki, the ‘I’ group is pushing for Joseph Vazhakkan while the ‘A’ lobbies for Youth Congress president Dean Kuriakose. ‘A’ group also wants to accommodate their nominee T Siddique and the leaders feel that he should contest from either Kasargod or Vadakara.

Adoor Prakash, who is the frontrunner for Attingal seat, is from the ‘I’ group and so far there is no contender for him from within.