Thaindian News

Thiruvananthapuram, March 15 (IANS) Congress leaders in Kerala are hoping to release the list of their candidates for the April 13 elections next week after vetting hundreds of aspirants.

The final list will be cleared by senior Congress leaders, union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A.K. Antony.

“Holi festivities are peaking in Delhi and the top leaders will be free only after that. We expect expect to release the list of Congress candidates by March 21 (the day after Holi),” All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Kerala, Madhusudhanan Mistry, told IANS.

“I will be carrying all the feelings aired in the party meeting to Delhi and the candidate list will reflect that,” he added.

Indications are that the Congress will get 85 of the 140 seats. Congress chief Ramesh Chennithala and leader of opposition Oommen Chandy will have a tough time screening the many aspirants.

It’s likely to be a tough job.

Several lists have been submitted from various groups, including the Youth Congress and other feeder organisations of the party, said a party leader.

“I am told the total number has swelled to more than 500 aspirants. See the huge crowds that have been gathering at our party headquarters here,” he added.

“Yes, the list is long but the selection would be judiciously done and it would consist of a mix of youth and experience,” Mistry said.

But not everyone is convinced.

A youth leader said he doubted whether the final list would take only merit into account.

“Chandy would have a list of his faithful, Chennithala another list, Antony too would have a few and, of course, (union Overseas Affairs and Civil Aviation Minister) Vayalar Ravi, who got a shock after strong protests surfaced when he named his daughter as a would contest.

“He appears to have withdrawn for the moment and it remains to be seen if his daughter would be there in the list of candidates that gets cleared from Delhi,” the leader said.

There is also speculation about other biggies - including the children of the late K. Karunakaran, K. Muraleedharan and Padmaja Venugopal, top party leader V.M. Sudheeran, new entrants from the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) K.S. Manoj and S. Sivaraman as well as actor Rajmohan Unnithan.