Congress high command to decide whether party MPs should contest in Kerala assembly poll: Venugopal

Thiruvananthapuram: Congress general secretary K C Venugopal on Saturday said that some party MPs from Kerala have expressed an interest in contesting in the upcoming assembly elections in the state, but the final decision will be that of the high command.

Speaking to reporters, Venugopal said that the central election committee has finalised several names for the upcoming polls and a few more remain to be decided.

He said that the screening committee is holding discussions regarding that and a decision will be announced soon.

Venugopal, the MP from Alappuzha parliamentary constituency, rejected the reports that party veteran K Sudhakaran was unhappy and said that the Congress strongman's recent Facebook post only expressed his love for Kannur and the grand old party.

At the same time, he also said that he cannot term someone's wish to contest in the polls as "a huge wrong".

"I believe the final decision has to be taken by the high command and I do not think Sudhakaran will go against that," the Congress general secretary said.

Regarding reports of Sudhakaran being invited to join the BJP, Venugopal said that "they will have to find someone else".

He further said that the goal of everyone in the party was to ensure the victory of the UDF in the assembly polls.

Sudhakaran had held a meeting with the party leadership in Delhi on Thursday and after returning to Kannur, has posted an emotional message on Facebook expressing his connection with the district.

There are also speculative reports that Sudhakaran, former state Congress chief, is not happy with the AICC decision not to allow sitting MPs to contest in the Assembly polls.

The Alappuzha MP also expressed shock at the broad daylight killing of a murder accused by a group of people, after chasing his car down, in Kollam and said that it was an example of the failure of law and order in the state.

He also alleged that the police were protecting some gangsters.