Congress decides not to name chief ministerial candidate in Kerala just yet

Many feel Chandy leading the campaign will fetch the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) more dividends.

The Congress Party has decided not to project the chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming assembly elections in Kerala for now and has decided to give top priority to youth and women while selecting candidates.

File photo.

Talking to newsmen in Delhi after a meeting with the party high command, senior leader A K Antony, who hails from the state, said the priority is to win the elections with a comfortable majority and all leaders will work united to ensure this.

“We have to win back Kerala. The party never projects any leader before elections but there will be a strong CM after the poll,” he said adding that the high command has given clear instructions to field new faces and give more representation to women.

The party had summoned three top leaders of the state - former CM Oommen Chandy, state president Mullapally Ramachandran and opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala - to Delhi to discuss the recent local body election debacle and formulate a fresh strategy for the assembly elections due which are due in April-May.

After the recent setback of local body polls, many allies have asked the party leadership to bring former CM Oommen Chandy to limelight and give him more responsibility but he was quite reluctant and batted for opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala. Many feel Chandy leading the campaign will fetch the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) more dividends. The party has also decided to form a 10-member panel to supervise elections in the state.

“We have formulated a new strategy to win elections in Kerala and all leaders will work to achieve this,” said party general secretary in charge of organisation KC Venugopal. Three senior leaders also said the UDF was in a strong position and the local body setback was temporary. Leaders have been strictly told to go beyond their factions and that winnability should be the sole criteria while selecting candidates. Going by the central leadership's directive, many veterans will have to make way for young leaders.

The party's central leadership was quite upset with the recent poll outcome and rushed AICC general secretary Tariq Anwar to the state twice where he met many including leaders of allies. Several leaders had questioned faction feud, differences among top leaders, selection of candidates and the party’s understanding with the Welfare Party, a political outfit of Jammat-e-Islami in north Kerala.