LS seats: Congress MPs worried

Thiruvananthapuram: With the AICC leadership holding talks with KPCC chief Ramesh Chennithala on choosing the candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, the sitting Congress MPs are a worried lot. They seem to be unsettled over the AICC’s comments on the secret survey which highlighted the fact that their reelection prospects were bleak indeed.

However, a majority of the Congress leaders believe that all the sitting MPs will not be removed, with Thrissur MP P.C. Chacko and Alappuzha MP K.C.Venugopal showing interest in moving to Chalakudy and Kollam respectively.

But PCC leaders feel that two seats will be earmarked for women candidates and AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s diktat of leaving half the seats for them is not going to materialize here.
When Chennithala had called on AICC leaders C.P. Joshi and Madhusudhan Mistry in New Delhi last week, he expressed his doubts over a few sitting MPs repeating their success.

Rumors are also rife that senior Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran may contest from Thrissur, a hotbed of group politics. The ‘I’ camp is miffed with sitting MP of Thrissur, P.C. Chacko, for appointing ‘A’ group leader O. Abdurahman Kutty there as DCC present.

Meanwhile, Congress leaders feel that K.C. Venugopal is likely to contest from Kollam due to the cold war with SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellapally Nateshan ever since the solar scam erupted.
Former AICC secretary Shanimol Usman and All India Mahila Congress vice-president Bindu Krishna are likely to be the two women candidates.