Marxist turncoats, signal to Ezhavas. Congress’ Kerala candidate list mixes risk with optimism
Thiruvananthapuram: On the evening of 19 March, with no information forthcoming on the release of the final list of Congress candidates, ticket hopefuls were praying fervently for the sight of moon that night to herald Eid, leaving at least a couple of days to file nomination papers.
The first Congress list of 55 candidates for the Kerala polls was out within a couple of days of the election notification on 15 March, but it took two more days for the complete list to be released.The media speculation on the Lok Sabha MPs getting exemptions to contest had become a bone of contention, with Kannur MP K Sudhakaran and Attingal MP Adoor Prakash, who won by the smallest of margins, keen to contest.
With Sudhakaran refusing to back down and camping in Delhi, the party was in a fix. Eventually the list took another day to come, even after the Kannur strongman had relented. And this was even after the Congress, riding high of winning the local body polls in December, carried out its initial deliberations on candidates and informal talks with allies on trading seats.
Leader of Opposition V.D.Satheesan’s month-long Puthu Yuga Yatra flagged off from Kasaragod on 7 February broke that momentum for the Congress. Within a week of the yatra’s conclusion, the election was notified, leaving the United Democratic Front (UDF) running helter-skelter to conclude the seat-sharing talks between allies, before the theatre shifted to New Delhi.
There were the conflicting interests of Satheesan, party’s former state president Ramesh Chennithala and general secretary (organisation) K.C.Venugopal in getting more of their nominees in the list—even if it was nothing compared to the factional distribution of seats in 2016 or 2021.
The major difference between then and now is that the leaders discussed each seat threadbare, including the caste, religious and gender permutations and combinations. With Chennithala not a part of the Central Election Committee (CEC), Venugopal managed to get the maximum number of nominees in the list.
There were heartbreaks for the likes of veteran Joseph Vazhakkan, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) general secretary Deepthi Mary Varghese and Kerala Students Union (KSU) president Aloshious Xavier when the list was out on 21 March.
Risky gambits
Some risky gambits have been taken, especially in central Kerala, which can backfire in the absence of a wave-like election result.
For instance, in Perumbavoor, where sitting MLA Eldhose Kunnappally was denied a ticket, the party took a counterintuitive call to pick a Catholic in Manoj Moothedan even as the Syrian Jacobites outnumbered the Catholics exponentially.
The Kerala Congress (Mani) candidate Basil Paul and Twenty20 candidate Jiby Pathikkal are both Jacobites, and it would be a contest to keenly watch out.
This manoeuvre forced the Congress to compensate for it in Idukki, where the party fielded Jacobite veteran Roy K. Paulose, who, nevertheless, got a hold on the organisation as a former District Congress Committee (DCC) president. However, Jacobites only have a minor presence in Idukki, and his opponent Roshy Augustine of Kerala Congress (M) is a five-time MLA.
The decision to file Ernakulam DCC president Mohammed Shiyas in Kochi also upset many calculations, as it necessitated the fielding of a Latin Catholic in adjacent Vypeen, converting two relatively safe seats into tight contests.
Fielding BJP turncoat Sandeep Varier in a tough constituency like Thrikkarippur also raised eyebrows, while P.T.Ajay Mohan, based in Malappuram, has been fielded from Kunnamkulam in Thrissur.
In the central Travancore region (central Kerala), the Congress strategy in seats such as Poonjar came for criticism for the fielding of the little-known M.J.Sebastian, a nominee of Anto Antony. The Pathanamthitta MP’s other nominee, Jiji Anchani in Kanjirappally, was replaced at the last minute with Rony K. Baby, a professor known to be close to the Syro-Malabar Church.
The Congress has taken another risky call to field a Nair candidate in Pazhakulam Madhu, a staunch Venugopal loyalist, in Ranni, even if Aaron Bigily Panavely was the frontrunner according to internal surveys.
“With the delimitation in 2009, parts of Mallappally which were part of Kallooppara got attached to Ranni and so there is a sizable Nair bloc in Ranni, but the Congress should have only looked at winnability,” veteran journalist Roy Mathew said.
However, Ranni has political history to it where two Congress political families—the Panavelils and the Cherians—ended up defeating each other’s candidates for the last three decades, necessitating a third candidature.
Also Read: In poll-bound Kerala, Congress’ candidate list has Chennithala loyalists smarting
District-wise representation
This time, the Congress not only took caste and religious considerations into account, but took every district as one entity to field the right combination of candidates.
So, in Pathanamthitta district, for instance, there is a Nair in Ranni, a Syrian Orthodox candidate in Aranmula, a Mar Thoma representative in Thiruvalla, an Ezhava in Konni along with the Scheduled Caste (SC) reserved constituency of Adoor.
Likewise in Idukki, where the local considerations have been taken care of in its five seats. The lack of Ezhava representation in Idukki was a factor that led to the setback of the party in the district, according to Congress general secretary A.Ashokan who hails from the district.
There is a rare possibility of sweeping all the seats in Idukki for the UDF according to the Congress camp. In 2021, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) won Devikulam, Udumbanchola, Idukki, and Peerumade, while the UDF cornered Thodupuzha.
This pattern of taking a district as an entity can be witnessed in Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha as well, which became tricky exercises for the Congress on account of organisational weakness.
By some stroke of luck, the Congress allocation of seats was comparatively better in these districts, making optimum utilisation of resources. Alappuzha is also the cradle of the Communist movement in the erstwhile Travancore princely state, and Marxist veteran G. Sudhakaran’s unexpected candidature as an Independent backed by the UDF has come as a shot in the arm for the Congress.
There is a general notion that those who win the greatest number of the 14 seats in Thiruvanathapuram district, form the government.
Social engineering
For the first time since 2001, the Congress list of candidates has over 20 Ezhavas, with Nairs and Christians still higher. There are 10 Muslims as well, along with more representation from the ally Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).
The Sivagiri Mutt had called on Rahul Gandhi to increase Ezhava and Other Backward Class (OBC) representation, even if not all are convinced by the social engineering tactics. “Why should the Congress field so many Ezhava candidates if not even 10 percent of the community are voting for the party?” veteran journalist Mathew wondered.
Giving tickets to four Christians in Thrissur wasn’t incidental, according to Jaison Joseph, Congress in-charge of the district.
The Congress is contesting in 92 of the 140 seats, apart from backing four Independents, whereas the IUML has been allotted 27, the Kerala Congress 8, the Revolutionary Socialist Party 3, and one seat each to smaller allies.
Rebels & turncoats
The presence of six Marxist turncoats makes it markedly different from other elections. That includes V.Kunjikrishnan in Payyannur and T.K.Govindan in Thaliparamba, both in Kannur; P.K.Sasi in Ottappalam, A.Suresh in Malambuzha, both in Palakkad; G. Sudhakaran in Alappuzha; Aisha Potti in Kollam. Only Potti and Suresh are contesting on the Congress symbol.
In Kannur, the Congress has taken the risky call to nominate former mayor T.O. Mohanan, a Nambiar, backed by fellow-Nambiar K.C.Venugopal, in a constituency where the community is a minority in comparison to the Ezhavas and Muslims.
Sudhakaran had backed Rijil Makkutty while he had no aversion to Amritha Ramakrishnan, whose candidature could have ensured women representation in the Congress list by at least double digits.
The candidature of K.S.Sabarinathan in Nemom is considered a semifinal of sorts before he squares off with BJP state chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar in Thiruvananthapuram in the 2029 Lok Sabha polls if Shashi Tharoor were to vacate the seat.
The other candidature that raised eyebrows was Remya Haridas moving from Palakkad to Chirayinkeezhu, a reserved constituency in Thiruvananthapuram. That resulted in B.S.Anoop’s switch to the BJP to contest from the seat.
Similarly, the Congress had to contend with rebellion in half-a-dozen seats from Punalur, Kuttanad, Thaliparamba, Payyannur even if most of the rebels were pacified to withdraw their nominations. The only rebel that eventually did not withdraw is Koyyam Janardanan in Thaliparamba.
There were some desertions following the naming of candidates. Veteran M.J.Job quit the party in Alappuzha and was fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) instead. Babu Divakaran, who was denied the Adoor ticket, joined Twenty20 overnight and was named the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate from Kunnathunadu. Another rebel R.S.Arun Raj is the BJP candidate in Chadayamangalam.
While there is a general sense that the Congress seat allocation wasn’t optimal and took four days too long, many are heaving a sigh of relief since things could have turned out much worse.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Don’t be fooled by Congress’ low-profile campaign in Kerala. It has its best shot since 2001
