Will there be more Chackos, as Cong list not out yet

By Sanu George

Thiruvananthapuram, March 11 (SocialNews.XYZ) While the Pinarayi Vijayan led CPI-M has come out with its list of candidates, the Congress, which leads the opposition is still contemplating on the composition and make, even as it saw one of its senior leaders, P.C.Chacko, bidding adieu to the party, on the grounds that he was not given due weightage.

Kerala goes to the polls to elect 140 legislators on April 6 and the Congress is expected to contest in 92 seats.

A senior Congress leader, however, said these are all common things that has happened in his party, every time it faces an election.

"Even though many will ask, on how many more Chackos are going to be there, it's definitely going to be there, as, at the moment, the BJP has opened its doors.

"While the CPI-M is a cadre party and has some sort of discipline, the Congress party is like a crowd and people come and go and it has happened in the past and it will happen when the list comes out and it will happen tomorrow also," said the leader who did not wished to be named.

With the scene of cutting and chopping of the long list of Congress aspirants, now taking place in Delhi, the question is when would the list be out as faction managers like former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Leader of Opposition in the assembly Ramesh Chennithala are fighting it out for their aides.

The Congress party high command led by Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi and new strongman K.C.Venugopal, are not willing to budge though.

While the CPI-M and CPI -- the two leading parties in the Left have been able to come out with basic guidelines that all those who have contested this many times need not seek renomination has been adhered to in letter and spirit, the same thing might not apply in the Congress.

The general guideline in the Congress party is that winnability would be the criterion and around 60 per cent of the candidates would be youths and new faces.

It has still not been able to come anywhere near finalisation as the faction leaders, especially 77-year-old Chandy, who knows that this would be his last chance on account of his age and failing health, is unwilling to budge, and he is rooting for his faithfuls, like eight time legislator K.C.Joseph, K.Babu, Dominic Presentation, C.P. Muhammed to name a few.

Congress veteran T. Sarathchandra Prasad is among few of the senior leaders who has a feel that their name would not be in the list, and is doing his best to come out with old newspaper cuttings on their contribution to the Congress party in the yesteryears.

"Just look back and the Congress party has lost senior leaders like Phillipose Thomas, G. Raman Nair, Abdullakutty to the CPI-M and BJP.

"Am sure, once the list is out, a few more will be going out. One way out of this ruckus is, like the CPI-M, there should be some basic guidelines on the term and the number of times a person can contest.

"Otherwise, this mad rush for seats and washing dirty linen in public will all happen. What many fail to understand is that this time, if the Congress-led UDF fails to regain power, it could well be curtains for the grand old party in Kerala, which has held office in every other Assembly elections," lamented another Congressman, venting his anger.

The State unit of the BJP is not in any sort of hurry and its state president K.Surendran has already said they are waiting for the Congress' list to come out, giving clear indications, their doors will be open for the likes of "Chacko's".

Source: IANS