Congress party in Kerala is all set to begin its campaign for the Lok Sabha elections as its president Rahul Gandhi is visiting the state on Thursday.
He is expected to finalise the candidates in the 16 seats in Kerala. Except for Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Kozhikode and Kannur, all 12 seats remain undecided. Several sitting MPs and probable candidates have expressed their unwillingness to contest. Beyond this, the candidature of senior leaders Oommen Chandy, K C Venugopal, V M Sudheeran and Mullappally Ramachandran would require Rahul’s permission. As all of them are reluctant to contest, it will not be an easy task for the party president.
Rahul will address party worker’s rally at Kozhikode on March 14. He will arrive at Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday after his programmes in Nagercoil and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.
KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran told media persons that Rahul will fly to Kochi and then go to Thrissur where he will be spending Tuesday night.
The Congress president will inaugurate ‘Fishermen’s Parliament’ at Triprayar in Thrissur. A probable candidate for Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency, T N Prathapan is the major organiser of the programme in which around 500 fishermen will be attending. They will handover fishermen’s manifesto to Rahul.
He would then visit the houses of slain Congress workers Shuhaib, Kripesh and Sarathlal in Kannur and Kasargod districts. ‘Political murders’ remain as a burning issue in the state following the double murder in Periya in Kasargod.
Rahul would then leave for Kozhikode, where he would attend ‘Janamaha rally’.
Though he was also planning to visit slain CRPF jawan V V Vasanathakumar in Wayanad, reports suggest police denied the permission owing to Maoist threat.
