Shafi Parambil against Pinarayi Vijayan in Dharmadom? Four Congress MPs likely to contest assembly polls

NEW DELHI: Four Members of Parliament from Congress are likely to contest the assembly elections this time. K Sudhakaran has postponed the meeting with Rahul Gandhi scheduled for tomorrow. Information from Delhi suggests that the meeting will likely take place on Tuesday. In the wake of the announcement of the assembly elections in Kerala, discussions are underway in Delhi to complete the candidates' list as soon as possible. The final decision regarding the candidature of the MPs rests with the AICC leadership.

Four MPs from Kerala are likely to contest the crucial assembly polls. The final decision will be taken only after the discussions are complete on Tuesday. Kannur MP and former KPCC president K Sudhakaran had already expressed his desire to contest from the Kannur assembly constituency. However, the state leadership is strongly against MPs contesting in the state.

Vadakara MP Shafi Parambil will likely be fielded against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Kannur's red bastion of Dharmadom. Discussions are progressing in Delhi. The Congress leadership believes that the elections will get heated up and the mood will likely swing if a strong candidate is fielded against the Kerala chief minister. Kozhikode MP MK Raghavan is likely to seek the mandate in Kozhikode North, and Attingal MP Adoor Prakash from Konni. However, no final decision has been taken on this.

KC Venugopal responded that the candidate selection will be completed within two days. Venugopal’s supporters demanded that he also be considered for the contest if four other MPs are given an exemption. However, some prominent members of the state leadership threatened AICC that they would withdraw from the contest if the MPs were to enter the election fray.