A retired IAS officer, movie actor and Congress leaders figure on the list of candidates of CPI (M) in Kerala.
The party has decided to field Christy Fernandez, a retired IAS officer and former secretary to the President of India and former chairman of Coir Board, against KV Thomas, minister for Food and Consumer Affairs in the UPA cabinet, from Ernakulam constituency.
Innocent, a Malayali movie actor and president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists, will be contesting from the Chalakkudy constituency as an independent candidate with the Left Democratic Front's (LDF) support. The party has finalised 15 candidates, except for the Idukki seat and a formal announcement would be made soon.
MA Baby, a polit bureau member and former Education minister, will contest from Kollam in south Kerala.
The CPI (M) state committee has also decided to field all its sitting MPs, P Karunakaran (Kasargod), PK Biju (Alathur), MB Rajesh (Palakkad) and A Sampath (Attingal) once again.
The party is yet to decide for the Idukki seat as the Kasturirangan committee report is the hot political issue there. The CPI (M) expects to field Francis George, former MP and leader of Kerala Congress (M), as there is a split in the party over the report. The party hopes the PJ Joseph faction will come out of the UDF and support the LDF.
To the surprise of the Congress party, AICC member and former DCC president, Philippose Thomas, will be the CPI (M) candidate from the Pathanamthitta constituency. Also, Congress leader V Abdurahman will contest from Ponnani seat against sitting MP and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader ET Muhammed Basheer. He is also former vice chairman of the Thirur municipality in Malappuram district.
The list includes two women leaders, PK Sreemathi (Kannur) and PK Sainaba (Malappuram). Former civil supplies minister C Divakaran is likely to be fielded against Shashi Tharoor of Congress and BJP's O Rajagopal in Thiruvananthapuram. The BJP expects to open its account from the capital this time.
CPI
KP Rajendran, former revenue ministry, is likely to be the CPI candidate from Thrissur.
Congress
Meanwhile, the Congress has not yet finalised its list as the seat sharing between the allies in the United Democratic Front (UDF) is inconclusive.
KPCC president VM Sudheeran told mediapersons that the list would be approved within a couple of days and formal announcement will be made soon.
The party has finalised the list for some seats in Ernakulam and Kozhikode. KV Thomas is a certain candidate from Ernakulam and MK Raghavan, also a sitting MP, will contest from Kozhikode. Sitting MPs--Mullappally Ramachandran (Vadakara), K Sudhakaran (Kannur) and Tharoor (Thiruvananthapuram) are the other likely candidates.
PC Chacko wants to shift from Thrissur to Chalakkudi this time, but Padmaja Venugopal, daughter of K Karunakaran, is also pressing for the seat. PT Thomas (Idukki) and MI Shanavaz (Wynad) are the other probables in the Congress' list.
The party's state unit also wants the candidature of Defence minister AK Antony from Kerala. However, Antony is yet to decide on the proposal. If he decides, he will contest from Alappuzha, his birthplace. His clean image would help the UDF cadre, said a veteran Congress leader. Union minister of state for External Affairs, E Ahamed, will contest from Malappuram for the third time as IUML candidate and KC (M) will field Jose K Mani from the Kottayam constituency.
