NEW DELHI: Congress has announced its candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. The crucial move is to field K Muralidharan in Thrissur, K Karunakaran's constituency, to overcome the backlash of Padmaja Venugopal going to the BJP. All but Thrissur sitting MP TN Pratapan have been given another chance.

KC Venugopal is back to regain Alappuzha, which he lost last time when Congress won all other 19 seats. With this, the constituency contested by AM Arif and Shobha Surendran is sure to witness a triangle fight.

The Congress has fielded Palakkad MLA Shafi Parambil in the Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency, which fell vacant when Muralidharan moved to Thrissur. T Siddique's name was also considered here but it finally reached Shafi.

It was T Siddique looking after issues in Rahul Gandhi's constituency Wayanad in his absence. Siddique is also leading the coordination of Rahul's election campaign. Siddique was avoided because if he is suddenly brought into the contest, it will affect the campaign in Wayanad.

Shafi Parampil had taken the stand that he is not interested in contesting for the Lok Sabha. He had informed the national leadership about this. However, when leaders including Sonia Gandhi demanded it, Shafi finally yielded to the leadership.

Congress candidates

Thiruvananthapuram - Shashi Tharoor
Attingal - Adoor Prakash
Mavelikkara - Kodikunnil Suresh
Pathanamthitta - Anto Antony
Alappuzha - KC Venugopal
Idukki - Dean Kuriakos
Ernakulam - Hibi Eden
Chalakudy - Benny Behnan
Thrissur - K. Muralidharan
Alathur - Ramya Haridas
Palakkad - VK Sreekandan
Kozhikode - MK Raghavan
Vadakara - Shafi Parampil
Wayanad - Rahul Gandhi
Kannur - K Sudhakaran
Kasaragod - Rajmohan Unnithan