NEW DELHI: Mullapally Ramachandran who has reached Delhi for the talks to select candidates said that the lapses committed by the party during the local body polls, will not be repeated in the assembly polls. “Will not compromise on fielding the best candidates. The party will retrieve Pala at any cost and I will not enter into the poll fray,” Mullapally talks to Kerala Kaumudi online.

Vijayan Thomas has resigned as Nemom seat was not given to him. He says that he will contest against V S Shivakumar as an independent candidate. Is the party not concerned about it?

Why should the party be concerned. Without compiling the list of candidates, is it right to conclude that seat will not be given to someone? Only the preliminary talks were completed. The party has not even reached the final round of talks.

Will the party field strong candidates in constituencies like Nemom and Vattiyoorkavu where the triangular fight is expected?

Absolutely. Most popular candidates will be fielded in these constituencies. It is sure that UDF will come back to power.

What could we expect from the candidate’s list? Will you enter into the poll fray?

I will not enter into the poll fray. The candidates’ list will give priority to youth, women and experienced people in the party. I and Ramesh have reached yesterday itself. Oommen Chandy will reach today and then the talks will begin. The list has not yet been finalised.

Is the Congress party equipped to fight against two cadre-based parties?

It is true that certain lapses happened on our side during the local body polls. It is not the deserving candidates who contested. The guidelines of KPCC were nor properly followed and the management of elections was also not good. The party also failed in pacifying the rebels. On the basis of statistics, one could say that the party could have put out a better performance but had happened was most unfortunate. It is a reality. We expected nothing less than victory at that time, the political climate was favourable for us but we couldn’t translate them to votes. Whereas this time, we have made a deep research into the party’s lapses and have resolved most of the in party issues. Therefore we are ready to face the assembly polls.

All the time the most important issue faced by Congress is the selection of candidates. Will it repeat this time also?

In a meeting convened by Rahul Gandhi I, Ramesh Chennithala, A K Anthony, Oommen Chandy, K C Venugopal and M M Hassan have participated. That meeting went on for hours. Rahul Gandhi knows the pulse of Kerala better than ourselves. He said what had happened in local body polls. He also added that the party cannot face the assembly polls in such a manner. The selection of candidates is the most important issue. Therefore he asserted that there should not be any compromise in selecting the best candidate. We are going forward fully concurring to his directions. Along with women and youth, even the backward communities feel that they are being ignored by the party. All these sections will be given top priority.

Do you still uphold the stand that there exists a nexus between CPM and BJP?

The common enemy of both parties is Congress. They have even arrived at an understanding to destroy the party in Kerala. They are like mutually helping cooperative groups.

If League arrives at an understanding with communal organisations like welfare party. What would be the stand of Congress?

Like CPM we don’t intervene over the internal affairs of constituent parties. We do give them suggestions and guidelines but we don’t ask them to follow them mandatorily. But in the case of the welfare party, League has a pre-approved stand. No more discussion is needed on the issue. It’s a closed chapter for us and I have reiterated it several times.