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Isaac, 4 big Kerala names not fielded
Thiruvananthapuram: The Communist Party of India (Marxist), the dominant party in the incumbent Left Democratic Front government in Karala, has denied tickets to five ministers, including finance minister Thomas Isaac citing the party’s two-term criteria
Thiruvananthapuram:
The Communist Party of India (Marxist), the dominant party in the incumbent Left Democratic Front government in Karala, has denied tickets to five ministers, including finance minister Thomas Isaac citing the party’s two-term criteria. It has also dropped 33 legislators and picked new faces in a bid to reach out to the women and younger voters in the state which goes to polls on April 6.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and seven other cabinet ministers are among the 83 candidates announced by acting party secretary A Vijayaraghavan on Wednesday. The party is contesting 85 seats in the 140-member assembly, with its allies contesting the rest. The result of the elections will be announced on May 2.
“The party will declare candidates for Mancheswaram in north Kerala and Devikulam in Idukki later,” Vijayaraghavan said.
While Vijayan is seeking re-election from Dharmadom in north Kerala’s Kannur district, party heavyweights Isaac, PWD minister G Sudhakaran, law minister AK Balam, education minister C Raveendranath, industry minister E P Jayarajan and speaker P Sivaramakrishnan were denied tickets.
According to people familiar with the matter, Isaac is likely to be sent to the Rajya Sabha.
Reacting to his name being dropped from the list, Isaac said, “It is a natural process in the party, fresh faces will have to come up. Continuation of power is certain.” He was a law-maker from Alapuzha since 2001 and under the party’s convention that legislators who have won twice in a row will not be fielded, will sit this election out.
Several posters surfaced in Alappuzha over the last two days targeting the party for denying a ticket to Isaac. The finance minister represents the Alappuzha assembly constituency.
Distancing himself from the posters, Isaac said those behind them are “not real party lovers or workers ”. He added that party will initiate an inquiry into the matter.
While the list included party secretary Vijayaraghavan’s wife R Bindu, who will contest from Irinjalakuda in Thrissur district, law minister AK Balan’s wife PK Jameela was not selected to contest from Tarur. “She [Jameela] was not in the reckoning. Her candidature was speculation,” Balan said after the list was announced.
In north Kerala’s Kutiyadi, angry party workers took out a procession on Wednesday urging the leadership to not give the seat to Kerala Congress (Mani), a new entrant in the LDF.
Seeking to underplay the displeasure over the list, the party secretary said the candidates were selected keeping in mind the aim of coming back to power to “strengthen the fight for secular causes at the national level”.
The party was forced to forego some of the seats to accommodate new allies, he said. “In coalition politics we have to make certain sacrifices. Last time we contested in 92 seats. Now the list is out, victory is our only aim,” Vijayaraghavan said.
Ministers MM Mani and J Mercikutty Amma, were exempted from the party’s two-term criteria. This, the party secretary said, was done after weighing the winnability of the leaders. “The party is trying to give chances to new persons who are equally talented, but there is a conscious campaign from certain quarters that it (the tw-term criteria) was to exclude some persons,” Vijayaraghavan said.
Noting that the party has picked qualified persons for the elections, Vijayaraghavan said 42 of them are graduates, 24, post-graduates, two, Phd holders, and that the list includes an architect and two practicing doctors. As many as 12 women and four people below the age of 30 years are among the candidates.
CPI, an ally in the ruling Left Democratic Front, announced on Tuesday that it will contest 25 seats and declared candidates for 21 seats. In the 2016 polls, the LDF won 91 seats in the 140-member assembly.
“The list reflects qualification of many candidates is proximity to the CM. Local leaders were given prominence and it seems to be a calculated move. Dissent reported from many areas show cadres are not happy,” said political theorist and writer J Reghu.
