Thiruvananthapuram: In ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress has taken a leaf out of the CPI(M)’s book and included the names of five sitting MLAs in its list of probable candidates. In the list presented before the AICC screening committee, the party fielded the names of former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Vandoor MLA AP Anil Kumar, Shafi Parambil of Palakkad, Adoor Prakash of Konni and K Muraleedharan from Vattiyoorkkav as probable candidates to the state leadership. Here it is the names of candidates were finalised after a meeting attended by Chandy, Ramesh Chennithala and Mullappalli Ramachandran.
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It is to be noted that despite being unhappy about his candidature, Chandy, a probable for the Idukki constituency, was reportedly pressured by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) leadership to be in the fray. However, if he refuses to budge, Pathanamthitta MP Anto Antony, Youth Congress leader Dean Kuriakose or KPCC spokesperson Joseph Vazhackan are likely to contest. Besides these, AP Anil Kumar is being considered from Alathur, Shafi Parambil from Palakkad, Adoor Prakash from Attingal and K Muraleedharan for Wayanad.
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However, CPI (M) sitting MLAs listed for the elections include Aroor MLA A.M. Arif, A. Sampath of Attingal, Joice George of Idukki, P.K. Biju of Alathur, M.B. Rajesh of Palakkad and P.K. Srimathy of Kannur. The complete list of Congress probable candidates is as follows.
Thiruvananthapuram : Shashi Tharoor
Attingal: Adoor Prakash
Mavelikkara: Kodikunnil Suresh
Pathanamthitta: Anto Antony, P.J. Kurien
Alappuzha: K.C. Venugopal, Shanimol Usman
Idukki: Oommen Chandy, Anto Antony, Joseph Vazhackan, Dean Kuriakose
Ernakulam: K.V. Thomas
Thrissur: V.M. Sudheeran, T.N. Prathapan, K.P. Dhanapalan
Chalakkudy: Benny Behanan, V.J. Paulose, Mathew Kuzhalnadan
Alathur: A.P. Anil Kumar, Remya Haridas, A. Sreelal
Palakkad: V.K. Sreekandan, Shafi Parambil, Lathika Subhash
Vadakara: Mullappally Ramachandran, T. Siddique
Kozhikode: M.K. Raghavan
Kannur: K. Sudhakaran
Wayanad: T. Siddique, Shanimol Usman, K. Muraleedharan, M.M. Hassan, T. Asifali
Kasargod: B. Subbayya Rai