All sitting Congress MPs forced to be in fray in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: Even as the Congress often witnesses tug of war over Lok Sabha seats, this time the selection of candidates seems to be taking place quite smoothly.

Almost all the 15 sitting MPs of the Congress are likely to be in the fray again. Even as some sitting MPs openly expressed their desire to keep off from the Lok Sabha elections, they are forced to remain in the fray especially since there is not much push from other leaders for the seat.

Party insiders said that many leaders seem to be skeptical about the prospects of Congress at the Centre, whereas there are high hopes of Congress returning to power in Kerala in the 2026 Assembly polls. Hence, many sitting MPs are focused on Kerala politics.

Sitting MPs Kodikunnil Suresh, T N Prathapan and K Muraleedharan were among those who had shown reluctance to contest in the Lok Sabha polls. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had expressed his desire to be in Kerala politics earlier.

Though Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president K Sudhakaran too preferred to keep off from the fray citing his organisational responsibilities, he is under pressure to contest from his sitting seat Kannur as the CPM is planning to field senior leader M V Jayarajan from there.

There were also reports that AICC general secretary K C Venugopal is also under pressure to contest from his previous constituency Alappuzha, which was the lone seat the Congress lost in the 2019 election in Kerala.

Even as a formal announcement regarding Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's candidature at Wayanad is awaited, party leaders hope that he will contest again from the high-range constituency, which is considered a safe seat.