Congress, BJP candidate selection in a deadlock in Kerala

Candidate finalisation in Congress and BJP for Kerala Assembly polls seems to be stuck over a few constituencies, especially Nemom in Thiruvananthapuram, the lone sitting seat of BJP in Kerala.

While there were speculations that former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy or some sitting MPs including Shashi Tharoor and K Muraleedharan would be fielded at Nemom, Congress's top leaders denied such reports.

Both the BJP and Congress seems to be awaiting the decision of the opposite camps on the candidates so that they could finalise the candidate. CPM already field former MLA V Sivankutty and CPM former state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said on Friday that even if Amit Shah contest from Nemom, there was no hope for BJP at Nemo this time.

Earlier during the day, Chandy denied reports that he was being considered for Nemom and said that he would prefer to contest from his home constituency Puthupally in Kottayam. Kerala PCC president Mullapally Ramachandran later clarified that no sitting MPs will contest in the Assembly polls.

Sources said that many sitting MPs were desirous of contesting and if anyone is given an exemption, it would trigger resentment in the party and hence the leadership decided not to field any sitting MPs.

Congress leaders said that the party would be contesting in 91 of the 140 seats in Kerala. Candidates for 81 seats were finalised and ten would be finalised after further talks. The candidates would be announced by Sunday.

Even as the BJP was considering former state president of the party Kummanam Rajasekharan to Nemom, the party is also considering actor trurned Rajya Sabha MP Suresh Gopi.