Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee issues gag order

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress leaders are shooting off their mouths ahead of the Assembly elections sowing seeds of confusion among the ranks.

After UDF convener P. P. Thankachan said that Congress leaders who have been contesting elections for four times should not be given seats, KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran has warned the leaders against making public statements.

But some Congress leaders say privately that newcomers, Youth Congress and women leaders should be given more representation.

Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala told reporters that it was for the AICC to decide who would lead the party in the elections and who would contest. Mr Thankachan belongs to the ‘I’ group and Mr Sudheeran sensed danger in his statement.

“Leaders should abstain from making public statements which would affect the chances of the party in the elections,”  said Mr Sudheeran in a statement.

Mr. Thankachan later retracted his statement and said it was  the responsibility of the high command to decide on the candidature list. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy along with Mr Sudheeran and Mr Chennithala are scheduled to hold talks with AICC leadership on Monday.

A prominent KPCC general secretary told DC that an outline of the seat-sharing between the Congress and the allies would be worked out during the  first round of talks. But Congress leaders, especially the ‘A’ faction, are worried over Mr Thankachan’s formula.

Those who have contested the polls the maximum number of times include  ministers Aryadan Muhammed (8 times), K. C. Joseph (6) and  K. Babu (5) of the ‘A’ faction and Adoor Prakash (4) of the ‘I’ faction; Therambil Ramakrishnan (6-‘I’), Dominic Presentation (5-‘A’), Speaker N. Sakthan (4-‘I’) K. Achuthan (4- ‘A’), V. D. Satheeshan (3- ‘I’), T. N. Prathapan (3-‘A’)  and Varkala Kahar (3-‘A’). Mr  Aryadan and Mr Achuthan have  announced that they are not keen to contest again, but the rest are hopeful of being in the fray again.