Congress MLA Benny Behanan’s decision to back out from the electoral fray in Thrikkakara Assembly constituency on Monday indeed came as a surprise for many party leaders. But for those in the know of how decision-making dynamics works in the Congress, the back out appeared to be a move to save Chief Minister Oommen Chandy from some embarrassment as the party high command had second thoughts about clearing the candidates for the four constituencies — Thripunithura, Thrikkakara, Konni and Irikkur — that became the bone of contention between him and KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran.
It had been widely reported in the media that the party high command had to give in to Mr. Chandy by allotting ticket to four sitting legislators, whose contests had been put under the scanner by Mr. Sudheeran. Mr. Chandy strongly argued against denying ticket to the four, particularly three of them his Cabinet colleagues. Mr. Sudheeran had opposed giving them ticket on grounds that they were “tainted”. Mr. Behanan was targeted because it was alleged that he had take bribe for solar scam accused Saritha S. Nair.
By redoing the candidate list for the four constituencies, the high command decided to drop Mr. Behanan. Sensing the developments in Delhi, Mr. Behanan took a quick decision to back out lest it be interpreted as a setback to his mentor.
He did not hide displeasure at the KPCC president’s stand, stating that he did not want to contest the election as he was aware that it did not have his backing. He had authoritative information that the KPCC president had other interests that had prompted him to back out, he said.
P.T. Thomas has been suggested as a possible replacement and this is sure to be accepted. Interestingly, Mr. Thomas also happens to be a close aide of the Chief Minister, who would not have much to complain about if it came to factional allocation. The high command appears have made an attempt to appease Mr. Sudheeran by at least accepting a part of his stand against giving ticket to tainted legislators.
The draft list, which is awaiting approval of AICC president Sonia Gandhi has over 20 youth and nine women candidates and takes care of other factional equations. Among the prominent leaders who are likely to get ticket include Padmaja Venugopal from Thrissur, Rajmohan Unnithan from Kundra, P.M. Suresh Babu from Kozhikode North, Satheeshan Pacheni from Kannur, K. Sudhakaran from Uduma, A.V. Gopinath from Nemmara and actor Jagadeesh from Pathanampuram. Interestingly, the draft list does not have any nominees suggested by the Mahila Congress or the Indian National Trade Union Congress. Youth leaders above the age of 40 too have been left in the cold.
