The All India Congress Committee (AICC) on Friday got down to the brass tacks of strategising and planning for the Assembly elections in Kerala. AICC national president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi held a detailed round-table discussion in New Delhi with the Congress top brass from Kerala, including Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Sunny Joseph, MLA; Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan; United Democratic Front (UDF) convener Adoor Prakash; and senior Congress leaders Ramesh Chennithala and M.M. Hassan.
Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Shashi Tharoor, who is in Kozhikode for the Kerala Literature Festival, told reporters that he would attend the meeting remotely, rejecting reports of a rift with the national leadership. A Congress insider said several issues were on the table, including the first phase of candidate selection. The meeting, he said, weighed the electoral pros and cons of whether sitting party MPs should contest the Assembly polls, a question that had dogged the KPCC in the election year, resulting in contradictory public statements from leaders.
He said the meeting would lay the groundwork for engaging allies, chiefly the Indian Union Muslim League and Kerala Congress parties, on seat-sharing, including swapping constituencies, particularly in central and north Kerala. According to party sources, the KPCC is of the overwhelming view that sitting MLAs should contest again, except for a few individual leaders who might seek an exception on health and age grounds. They said the Congress might contest in more seats and leaders from the younger age demographic, including the Youth Congress, will likely be in the fray to regain lost political ground.
