Pressure on VM Sudheeran to contest in Assembly elections
Already graffiti has come up at Manaloor in favour of Sudheeran.
Pressure is mounting on KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran to contest the Assembly elections. Senior Congress leader A. K. Antony was the first to react saying “that he would welcome the decision if Sudheeran decided to contest”. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy also said he would support it if Sudheeran came forward. Sudheeran’s trusted lieutenant T. N. Prathapan had also demanded that he be in the fray. But Sudheeran has maintained that if he was contesting, he would not be able to co-ordinate party activities to get it election-ready.
V. M. Sudheeran who is known for his no nonsense attitude has the vast support of the masses, but lacks the same support within the party. He was a Lok Sabha member from Alapuzha four times and a legislator from 1980-1996. He was elected to the Kerala Assembly many times from Manaloor constituency in Thrissur district. But after he was defeated from Alapuzha at the hands of CPM candidate Dr. K. S. Manoj in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Sudheeran has not been in the electoral fray.
Despite pressure from the AICC leadership and the State Congress leaders, Sudheeran refused to contest. But party sources feel that this time he would most probably succumb to the demands of the AICC leadership.
“Sudheeran has got a clean image and this would help him at a time when the UDF Government has been embroiled in solar and bar scams. The ball is in the court of the AICC leadership as well as with Antony”, said a KPCC general secretary.
Already graffiti has come up at Manaloor in favour of Sudheeran. A section of the Congress leaders close to Sudheeran had come out with a proposal that he should contest from Kollam district. But Sudheeran has not commented on contesting so far.
Out of the 11 Assembly constituencies in Kollam district, Congress had not won a single seat during the 2011 Assembly elections. Chavara (RSP’s Shibu Baby John) and Pathanapuram (KC (B)’s K. B. Ganesh Kumar) were the UDF MLA’s to have won from Kollam. But the latter has since returned to the LDF and Eravipuram MLA A. A. Azeez of RSP has joined the UDF.