As if the existing confusion in the Congress party over the selection of candidates was not enough, even settled candidatures have now turned suddenly unstable. Top Congress sources said Konni MLA Adoor Prakash, who was almost firmed up for the Attingal seat, may soon opt out of the race.
Just when it looked like Adoor Prakash would take on CPM's A Sampath in Attingal, the Crime Branch submitted an FIR in the solar sexual abuse case against sitting Congress MLAs Adoor Prakash, Hibi Eden, and A P Anil Kumar. Both Hibi and Anil Kumar were also probable candidates.
If Congress wanted Hibi, one of Congress' young faces, to take on CPM's youthful and vibrant face P Rajeev in Ernakulam, it wanted Anil Kumar to challenge P K Biju in Alathur. Even though he was almost finalised for Attingal, the Congress was also weighing Prakash's chances in Alappuzha from where the sitting MP K C Venugopal is loathe to contest. It looks like the party will have to drop the plans it had for the three MLAs.
A FIR against one's name, however ridiculous the charge is, could be seriously embarrassing for a candidate. For the first time ever, the Election Commission has insisted that the candidate should publish the list of FIRs filed against him in a widely circulated daily and the electronic media. The 'charge-sheet' has to be published not once, but thrice during the election campaign. The charge against all the three Congress MLAs, though still not proven, is that they have sexually abused a female entrepreneur after promising to help her strike a deal for solar plants with the government.
“These MLAs know that the CPM workers would take copies of the FIR details published in a newspaper and distribute it among the voters. The CPM don't even have to bother to level any charges, they just have to show the voters the details the Congress candidates themselves have published,” the Congress source said. The return of the 'solar ghost' is not something the Congress can afford during this election. Oommen Chandy, too, has an FIR filed against him in the solar case.
Conversely, the solar FIR can lessen the number of claimants, and therefore some headache for the leadership. Now that Hibi has the FIR shadow on him, K V Thomas would be the automatic choice for Ernakulam.
Remya Haridas, the only woman Congress probable in the candidates' list other than Shanimol Usman, will now become the Congress' lone choice in Alathur. The plan to bring in Anil Kumar is now as good as shelved.
However, the exit of Prakash will be the most problematic for the Congress. “It is hard to find a better candidate. Prakash commands influence over both Ezhava and Nair community leaders in the area. He can easily blunt Sampath's edge. He has the money, too,” a Congress leader said.
Earlier, the Congress had attempted to rope in popular bureaucrat Biju Prabhakar for the Attingal seat. Prabhakar, the son of Congress leader Thachady Prabhakaran, had declined the offer.
Since top Congress leaders are reluctant to contest even from their sitting seats, it will be hard to convince any one of them to fight from Attingal, which again is a tough seat.
The Congress leaders are so reluctant to bite the bullet that they have even contemplated the unthinkable: hand over the Idukki and Vadakara seats to independents. If they are planning to have P J Joseph as an independent from Idukki, K K Rema could be fielded as the UDF independent from Vadakara. Chandy has vehemently rejected the offer to contest from Idukki, and Mullappally Ramachandran has cited his responsibilities as KPCC chief to excuse himself from defending his sitting seat.
Congress leaders Ramesh Chennithala, Mullappallay and Venugopal will hold talks with Mukul Wasnik at the Congress steering committee to be held on Friday. The new developments, and the changes that it may bring about, will be discussed at the steering committee.