The Congress party has decided to field its candidate for the Aruvikkara Assembly seat in the upcoming by-election following the untimely death of G. Karthikeyan.
A United Democratic Front (UDF) leadership meeting held here on Wednesday authorised Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to hold discussions soon with members of the RSP subcommittee on the party’s claims for the Deputy Speaker’s post. There are indications that the RSP will have to give up its claims on the Deputy Speaker’s post in lieu of an assurance that the party will be allotted a seat in the Capital district in the next assembly election. If at all the RSP gets its way, it will be on the basis of the kind of pressure it puts on the Congress leadership on the strength of its number balance. If it does get the Deputy Speaker’s post, the party will have to consider nominating Kovoor Kunjumon to keep the social balance. The Congress party is likely to field M.T. Sulekha, Karthikeyan’s wife, to capitalise on the sympathy wave and also to perhaps avoid possible tussle between aspirants. Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala held a couple of meetings to convince Mrs. Sulekha to join politics and contest the seat. Winning in Aruvikkara is going to be prestigious for the UDF and the Congress since it would turn out to be a barometer to measure the ruling coalition’s popularity months ahead of the local bodies’ election and the Assembly elections subsequently.
