Cong fields 14 of 15 incumbent MPs in Kerala for Lok Sabha polls

The Congress on Friday decided to field 14 of its 15 sitting Members of Parliament (MPs) in Kerala for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, including former party president Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad constituency.

The announcement was made by party general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal in Delhi, a day after the list of candidates was finalised at the central election committee (CEC) meeting of the party.

In the 2019 elections in Kerala, a state with 20 seats to offer, the Congress had won 15 of the 16 seats it contested with its allies winning four more. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) won the remaining seat.

This time, of the 14 MPs, 13 of them have been nominated from the seats they currently represent in the lower house of Parliament including Rajmohan Unnithan in Kasaragod, state Congress chief K Sudhakaran in Kannur, Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Shashi Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram, Hibi Eden in Ernakulam and state working president Kodikunnil Suresh in Mavelikkara (Scheduled Caste-reserved).

The other sitting MPs nominated again are MK Raghavan (Kozhikode), VK Sreekandan (Palakkad), Ramya Haridas (Alathur-SC), Benny Behanan (Chalakudy), Dean Kuriakose (Idukki), Anto Antony (Pathanamthitta) and Adoor Prakash (Attingal).

In Thrissur constituency in central Kerala, where a fierce triangular contest is expected, the Congress made a strategic move by replacing its sitting MP TN Prathapan with K Muraleedharan, the incumbent MP from Vatakara and the son of late four-time chief minister K Karunakaran. The decision comes just a day after Muraleedharan’s sister Padmaja Venugopal left the Congress to join the BJP in a surprise move and is now expected to campaign against him. By fielding Muraleedharan, the Congress hopes to tap the legacy of his father and Congress stalwart Karunakaran whose home district is Thrissur. Muraleedharan will face Communist Party of India (CPI) leader and former agriculture minister VS Sunil Kumar and actor-turned-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suresh Gopi.

The Congress also made its intent clear to win the Alappuzha constituency, the only seat it lost to the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the 2019 polls, by fielding KC Venugopal, currently a Rajya Sabha MP from Rajasthan. Though considered a stronghold of the CPI(M), Venugopal is a popular figure in Alappuzha and got elected from there in 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He will face sitting CPM lawmaker AM Ariff and BJP leader Sobha Surendran.

Meanwhile, sitting MLA and former state youth congress president Shafi Parambil has been fielded in Vatakara in north Kerala. Though the seat has been continuously won by the Congress since 2009, Shafi, the lone Muslim face among the 16 candidates of the Congress, will face a stiff challenge against CPM MLA and former health minister KK Shailaja, people aware of the matter said.