Twenty three sitting MLAs including five ministers in the state cabinet will in all likelihood be dropped from the list of candidates of CPI(M) for the April 6 Assembly elections in Kerala. Another high profile omission can be the Speaker of the Assembly, P Sreeramakrishnan.
Sources said that the CPI(M) has decided to drop all those from the list of candidates who have completed two terms in office. The final list will be decided in the last round of meeting of the state Secretariat on Sunday, and the chances of giving any exemption to anyone is a remote possibility.
In the cabinet, the CPI(M) has 13 members, including Pinarayi Vijayan, and of these five are likely to be dropped. Among those who are likely to be left out are Industries Minister EP Jayarajan, Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, Culture Minister AK Balan, Public Works Department Minister G Sudhakaran and Education Minister C Raveendranath.
The shocking omission will be that of Thomas Isaac, the economist-turned-politician, who was largely instrumental in launching new modules in budgeting and for finding funds outside the budget. He has been a legislator since 2001 and has been the Finance Minister for 10 years spread over two terms. A proposal as to whether Isaac could be given an exemption was shot down, sources said.
Among the legislators who are reportedly being dropped are A Pradeep Kumar and Raju Abraham. Senior leader of the party P Jayarajan will also not figure in the candidate list.
While the CPI(M) had a good number of women candidates for the recently held local body polls, it appears there shall only be 10 for the Assembly election. Among these, several reports include the names of PK Jameela, former director of Health Services and Minister AK Balan’s wife and R Bindhu, former Thrissur Mayor and wife of CPI(M) General Secretary A Vijayaraghavan.
A New Indian Express report said that the party has come up with a list of 84 candidates during the state committee on Friday. It has reportedly allotted 13 seats to its new ally in the Left Democratic Front (LDF), Jose K Mani faction of the Kerala Congress (M).
(With IANS input)