Kerala CPM under close observation

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Central leadership of CPM will keep a close watch on any attempt to question or criticise Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan’s candidature for the forthcoming Assembly elections.

Sources said the central leaders want the local leaders to guard against any such propaganda especially coming from within the organisation as it could create confusion not only in the rank and file of the party but also the general public.

The central leadership has already conveyed the importance of the elections which the CPM strongly believes is a do or die battle. The central leadership wants the state unit of the party fight the polls as a strong united entity.

According to sources, the leadership is wary of the campaign from “enemy” camp which might try to create confusion in the minds of people on Mr Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan, both being in the electoral fray.

While the party has already made it clear that the party’s chief minister candidate would be decided after the polls, the controversial issue might crop up at various stages. However, a section of party leaders say that since the Congress-led UDF has also not projected its chief ministerial candidate and gone for a collective leadership in chief minister Oommen Chandy, KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran and home minister Ramesh Chennithala, it would not be difficult to counter any criticism coming from their side.

However, the party would take extra care to ensure that there are no differences on the leadership question during the campaign. The top leaders have also been advised to not to fall in the trap of media or opponents and make statements which could cause embarrassment to the party during the high stake battle.

Candidates’ list in final round talks

CPM on Monday finalised candidates for majority of the  seats that the party would be contesting in the forthcoming Assembly elections. While the list of candidates was reworked in various districts, there was still no unanimity on many seats especially in Thiruvananthpuram, Kollam and Idukki.

In Kollam, P K Gurudasan’s name was included while Aisha Potti was excluded from Kottarakara since J Mercykutty Amma had been decided for Kundara. CPM state secretariat had earlier finalised a norm of having one woman from each district. The district leadership is likely to discuss Aisha's name again who had won the seat by a margin of over 20,000 votes.

In Thiruvananthapuram the district secretariat could not reach an agreement on Neyyattinkara, Aruvikkara and Varkala constituencies, while C K Hareendran was projected from Parassala. Ben Darwin and Ansalan are being considered for Neyyattinkara.

In Palakkad, the district secretariat included V S Achuthanandan’s name from Malampuzha. The party is trying to find a formidable candidate to take on V T Balram in Thrithala.

The list includes; Malampuzha: V. S. Achuthanandan,  Dharmadom: Pinarayi Vijayan, Kalliasseri: T V Rajesh, Mattanur: E P Jayarajan, Payannur: C Krishnan, Thaliparamaba: James Mathew, Peravoor: K K Shylaja, Thalassery: A N Shamsheer.  No decision yet on Koothuparamba, Kannur and Irikkur.

Alappuzha: Dr  T M Thomas Isaac, Ambalapuzha: G Sudhakaran, Mavellikkara: R Rajesh, K Raghavan, Aroor: A M Arif, Kazhakootam: Kadkampally Surendran, Nemom: V Sivankutty, Vattiyoorkavu: T N Seema, Katakkada: I B Satheesh, Vamanapuram: D K Murali, Attingal: B Sathyan, Wadakkancherry: KPAC Lalitha, Chalakudy: B D Devassia, Guruvayur: K V Abdul Khader,  Kunamkulam: A C Moideen, Puthukkad: C Raveendranath.
Tharoor: A K Balan, Shornur: K Shashi, Nenmara: K Babu, Kongad: Vijayadas, Alathur: K D Prasannan,
Kozhikode North: A Pradeep Kumar, Ponnani: P Sreeramakrishnan, Ranni: Raju Abraham, Udambanchola: M M Mony, Decvikulam: S Rajendran, Kalpetta: C K Saseendran, Perambavoor:  Saju Paul. Thrikkaripur: M Rajagopal, Udma: K Kunhiraman, Manjeshwaram: C H Kunhanbu.