With Kerala gearing up for the upcoming Assembly elections, the Congress in the state has said that the party’s election manifesto will reflect people’s emotions and opinions. The Congress held the first election committee meeting for the state on Saturday with the three observers from the All India Congress Committee (AICC) present. Veteran leader and former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that the manifesto will be prepared with people’s opinion. The tenure of the incumbent Left government will end in June and the Assembly elections will likely be held in April.
“The election manifesto of the Congress will reflect the emotions of the people. The Election Manifesto Committee of the UDF (United Democratic Front) had held meetings in various parts of the state for this. Apart from this, MP Sashi Tharoor, who is also part of the election committee, will meet people of all walks of life- youngsters, students, at various places in the state to discuss the issues they face.” said Oommen Chandy in a press meet post the committee meeting.
His party colleagues Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala and Rajyasabha MP KC Venugopal were also present at the press meet. Shashi Tharoor, the Thiruvananthapuram MP, will meet people in Palakkad, Ernakulam, Kozhikode, Kottayam apart from his own constituency.
There are ten members in the election committee of which eight took part in the meeting. One of those who didn't take part was VM Sudheeran. “He has been on rest due to health issues while K Muraleedharan is in his constituency (Vadakara) for the inauguration of Railway over bridge,” Oommen Chandy said.
Three observers of the AICC Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, former Karnataka Deputy CM G Parameswara and former Goa CM Luizinho Faleiro held discussions with the state leaders earlier in the day.The meeting also discussed the Aiswaryakeralayatra. The yatra is a rally, from Kerala’s north to the south, which will be led by Chennithala and will commence on January 31. This will kick off the election campaign of the Congress in the state. Oommen Chandy will inaugurate the rally in Manjeswaram, the northern end of the state in the Kasaragod district.
“In the parliamentary constituencies where the Congress has MPs, they will be in charge of the yatra. In Kottayam I will be in charge and in Malappuram it will be Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee Vice President T Siddique. In Alappuzha and Wayanad it will be KC Venugopal,” Oommen Chandy said.
The Congress-led UDF had won 19 out of the 20 Parliament seats in the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However, with the Jose K Mani faction of the Kerala Congress (M) jumping ship to LDF last October, it reduced the coalition to 18 MPs.
KV Thomas very much part of Congress
On the rumours that senior Congress leader and former Ernakulam MP KV Thomas will quit the party, Chandy said that he is a respectable leader and is very much in the Congress and will remain so.
“Congress is a democratic party; the party will discuss whoever has any issues and come out with a democratic response,” Chandy said. Thomas had aired unhappiness over being ill-treated by the party leadership. He, however, cancelled, the press meet scheduled for Saturday to announce his future plans. He told reporters in Kochi on Friday that Congress President Sonia Gandhi called him and asked him to meet the party central leadership on Saturday. Thomas will reportedly meet the AICC observers in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.