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Kerala Congress factions to battle it out in LS elections in Kottayam
Kochi Kerala Congress (Joseph) names K Francis George as Lok Sabha candidate for Kottayam constituency, setting stage for direct fight with Kerala Congress (Mani).
Kochi Kerala Congress (Joseph), a constituent of the Congress-led United Democratic Front, on Saturday named its deputy chairman K Francis George as the candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Kottayam constituency.
Party’s chairman PJ Joseph made the announcement at a press conference in Kottayam and said the decision to nominate George as its candidate was taken unanimously.
With this, the Kottayam constituency, often called the rubber heartland of the state, is expected to witness a direct fight between two factions of the Kerala Congress party after nearly four decades. Facing George will be sitting MP Thomas Chazhikadan of the Kerala Congress (Mani), currently an ally of the CPI(M) in the state. Kerala Congress (M) had already named Chazhikadan as its candidate here.In the 2019 elections, Chazhikadan was elected as a UDF MP from Kottayam, but the next year his party deserted the UDF to join the CPI(M)-led LDF.
George, who has been elected to the Lok Sabha twice in 1999 and 2004 from the neighbouring Idukki constituency, said, “Our aim is to is to wrest the seat back that the UDF had won in 2019 but lost due to switch of the party of the MP (to LDF). I have the confidence that we can do it with the help and cooperation of all parties of the UDF and all sections of the people. Agrarian issues will certainly be discussed in the elections, particularly the plight of rubber farmers. Both the Centre and the state government have cheated rubber farmers by promising to hike the MSP.”
George is the son of KM George, the late founder-chairman of Kerala Congress party and former minister who split from the Congress in the early 60s to form the new outfit. Since then, the Kerala Congress has suffered countless splits over the years, due to differences of opinion with each faction often being associated with both the LDF and the UDF in course of time.
The Kerala Congress factions have largely survived on the agrarian and Catholic vote banks particularly in parts of Ernakulam, Kottayam, Idukki and Pathanamthitta in central Kerala.
The BJP-led NDA, which had got 17% vote hare and come third in Kottayam in the 2019 elections, is yet to announce its candidate.
