Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress High Command has asked the state leadership to choose candidates with best victory probability and approval ratings for Lok Sabha polls. The list will have two or three names for each seat.
Senior leaders Ramesh Chennithala, Oommen Chandy and Mullappally Ramachandran will deliberate on the final list Saturday. They will most likely head to New Delhi to hand it over to the national leadership Sunday. Central screening committee is set to meet on March 11. Once approved by election committee, the list will be officially declared on March 12.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi is in Kerala on 13 and 14. If not declared on 12, it might happen only on March 15. The party does not want to delay any further since the LDF has finalised its list.
The party president will take a final call on candidature of Chandy (Idukki or Kottayam), Mullappally (Wayanad) and KC Venugopal (Alappuzha). There will not be a panel of candidates for seats where Congress has sitting MPs, it was decided earlier.
At least two women candidates will be suggested. Though Shanimol Usman is slated to contest from Wayanad, the party is still weighing the pros and cons of fielding a Muslim woman from that seat. Alathur might see KA Thulasi, Ramya Haridas or Dr Mini contest. The equations change completely if KK Rema contests as an independent from Vadakara.
Some leaders want Rema to contest since P Jayarajan is CPM’s candidate from Vadakara. KM Abhijith and T Siddique may be considered too for this seat. The latter might contest from Wayanad, Kasaragod or Kannur. K Sudhakaran is the front runner for Kannur. B Subbaiah Rai (Kasaragod), Adoor Prakash (Attingal) and VK Sreekandan (Palakkad) are also being considered. K Muralidharan, MM Hassan or T Asaf Ali might be considered from Wayanad.
But some ask why should sitting MLA Muralidharan contest from the sure seat Wayanad.
VM Sudheeran, TN Prathapan, Niji Justin (Thrissur), Benny Behanan, KP Dhanapalan (Chalakkudy), Joseph Vazhakkan, Dean Kuriakose and Mathew Kuzhalnadan (Idukki) stand a chance.
Group and community considerations will affect the final list.