NEW DELHI: In a daring move, Congress is mulling to field K Muraleedharan in Nemom, the BJP's only sitting seat in Kerala. With Muraleedharan at the forefront, the High Command aims to face the challenge posed by the BJP and the CPM at the same time. Though the earlier plans were to field Oommen Chandy or Ramesh Chennithala in Nemom, they were not ready to leave their regular constituency. Muraleedharan hasn't commented on the matter.

The High Command reckons that the UDF in general will benefit if one of the senior leaders enters the fray in Nemom, BJP's pride seat. This will be reflected across the state. The impression of the CPM-BJP battle created by the Amit Shah-Pinarayi war of words can be eliminated and the split in the minority vote can be prevented through this.

Meanwhile, in Vattiyoorkavu and Kazhakoottam constituencies, there is still confusion in the candidate selection. Though the name of Jyothi Vijayakumar is heard in Vattiyoorkavu, Oommen Chandy is adamant that seats should be given to KC Joseph and K Babu. MPs have also objected to this. Robin Peter is being considered in Konni, Mathew Kuzhalnadan in Muvattupuzha, Sivadasan Nair in Aranmula, Bindu Krishna in Kollam and Lathika Subhash in Kanjirapally.

Congress candidate selection reaches nowhere

The Congress candidate selection was hindered by protests of senior leaders, including MPs. Following this, the party's Central Election Committee meeting scheduled to be held yesterday was postponed. The first phase list of 26 seats comprising sitting MLAs is expected to be released soon as the nomination process starts tomorrow.

Meanwhile, K Muraleedharan has turned down the chairmanship of the election campaign committee's promised by the national leadership. Murali has said that he does not want to take over the post he once resigned from. The Kerala leaders held discussions with K Sudharakaran and some other MPs yesterday. K Muraleedharan, MK Raghavan and K Sudhakaran are of the view that Oommen Chandy and Ramesh prepared the list unilaterally without even discussing it in the selection committee.