TRIVANDRUM, 22 March 2004 — Congress party President Sonia Gandhi has held back the list of 12 candidates for the May 10 Lok Sabha elections from Kerala after objections from the party workers. The Congress president yesterday cleared the names of five candidates who were members of the resolved house — V.S. Sivakumar (Trivandrum), V.M. Sudheeran (Alleppey), Ramesh Chennithala (Mavelikkara), Kodikkunnil Suresh (Adoor) and A.C. Jose (Trichur).
Sonia is expected to consult more state leaders before reversing the temporary list. She will clear the final list with changes in the candidates at least for four constituencies, the party officials here said.
“There were several instances in the past when we changed the candidates midway. That didn’t affect the electoral prospects,” state unit president P.P. Thankachan said.
The Congress headquarters in New Delhi received several fax messages against the candidature of senior leader K. Karunakaran’s daughter Padmaja Venugopal (Mukundapuram constituency), V. Balaram (Calicut), Edward Edezhath (Ernakulam) and N.A. Mohammed (Kasaragod), the Banglore-based businessman.
V. Balram was rewarded after he resigned his Wadakkancherry assembly seat for Karunakaran’s son and recently appointed Power Minister K. Muraleedharan. Karunakaran was elected to Rajya Sabha, the upper house, unopposed last week.
Meanwhile, Rajmohan Unnithan and Saratchandra Prasad, the state general secretaries facing disciplinary action for their diatribes against Karunakaran’s family, dared the state leadership to expel them from the party. “Let them expel us, we’ll expose them all. We have a lot of dirty stories to tell and we’ll tell them all to the voters of Wadakkancherry and Mukundapuram,” they said addressing a joint news conference.
Thankachan had showcaused both after they alleged that money had changed hands while preparing the candidates’ list. The two leaders were asked to explain by 6 p.m. today why disciplinary action should not be initiated against them.
They said the state president has no power to take action within such a short time. “There is a disciplinary committee headed by former state chief C.V. Padmarajan. The committee should go into the allegations first and decide if there was any crime that demands punishment,” they said. The former lieutenants of Karunakaran, who turned foes after they were denied tickets for the elections, said they would remain in Karunakaran’s ‘I’ group and fight against the “dynasty”.
