Oommen Chandy not in Nemom, ‘A’ group leaders breathe straightforward

Express News Service
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Leaders of the ‘A’ group within the Congress heaved a sigh of aid on Friday after the state unit leaders declared in New Delhi that former chief minister Oommen Chandy would contest the approaching meeting elections from his Puthuppally constituency. The group leaders had been fuming since his title was urged for the Nemom seat. They felt that the Congress had fallen into the entice laid by the CPM which alleged an “adjustment” between the Congress and the BJP in Nemom after the saffron celebration threw sufficient hints that its former state president Kummanam Rajasekharan can be fielded there.

The Chandy camp was peeved with Congress state president Mullappally Ramachandran as he was the primary one to suggest Chandy’s title in Nemom. However, on the primary day itself, Chandy had expressed his reservation over such a transfer. Halfway by the screening committee assembly in New Delhi, the Nemom candidature got here up for dialogue. 

Already, the ‘A’ group was a wounded lot with lots of their senior leaders having been sidelined within the possible candidate listing. For an individual like Chandy, who’s a family title in his hometown of Puthuppally from the place he had been elected to the meeting for a file 11 instances, ditching his voters now was unthinkable. Moreover, the 77-year-old didn’t favour his son, Chandy Oommen, contesting from the seat at this juncture. 

A senior Congress MP and a trusted lieutenant of Chandy informed TNIE that the Congress management mustn’t have given undue prominence to Nemom. “The pros and cons of Oommen Chandy contesting from Nemom should have been discussed by the party leadership before coming up with such a proposal. As far as we are concerned, Chandy has categorically stated that he will contest only from Puthuppally,” he stated.The BJP has been dilly-dallying on Kummanam’s candidature in Nemom and it’s ready for the Congress listing to be out. 

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Nemom was the one meeting phase out of the seven that make up Thiruvananthapuram parliamentary constituency the place Kummanam had achieved higher than Shashi Tharoor. “Tharoor had elevated his vote share from 26.97% in 2014 to 32.88% in 2019. Though Nemom has all the time seen a consolidation of Hindu votes, there are over 32,000 Muslim and 30,000 Christian votes, apart from one other 10,000 votes from Dalit, Vellala and Ezhava communities.

There are 74 NSS karayogams in Nemom, which may additionally work in favour of UDF. It was after analysing these elements that Mullappally urged {that a} bigwig like Chandy be fielded there,” stated a frontrunner near the Congress state president. However, CWC chief A Ok Antony himself had requested the celebration management to train warning in fielding Chandy in Nemom, which turned essential in Friday’s choice, ‘A’ group leaders imagine.