Perhaps, it is not a surprise to see that around 20 nominees of major political fronts for the upcoming Assembly polls are related to veteran leaders. While some have enjoyed full-time patronage during their career, a few others made it on their own, and there are others who naturally joined politics as their father’s successors.
Any debate on dynastic politics in Kerala is incomplete without the name of the late Congress leader K. Karunakaran.
His son, K. Muraleedharan, Vadakara MP, and daughter, Padmaja Venugopal, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) secretary, are being fielded from Nemom and Thrissur respectively.
P.M. Niyas, the Congress candidate from Beypore, is the son of former trade union leader and Karunakaran loyalist K. Sadirikoya. K.S. Sabarinathan, MLA, son of the late Speaker G. Karthikeyan, is contesting from Aruvikkara again.
Sumesh K. Achuthan, Congress candidate from Chittur in Palakkad, is the son K. Achuthan, former MLA from the same seat.
Offsprings of communist leaders jumping into the poll fray is also not rare. C.P. Pramod, CPI(M) candidate from Palakkad, is the son of E. Padmanabhan, former Sreekrishnapuram MLA, and the grandson of M.P. Kunhiraman, former Malampuzha MLA. K.D. Prasenan, who is seeking re-election from Alathur, is the grandson of R. Krishnan, who represented the seat earlier.
P.S. Supal, CPI candidate for Punalur, is the son of the late Minister P.K. Srinivasan.
Mr. Supal had represented the same seat between 1996 and 2006.
V.R. Sunil Kumar, incumbent MLA from Kodungalloor who will contest again, is the son of the late Minister V.K. Rajan. Though the CPI had earlier decided to field Ajith Koladi, son of former MLA from Andathode, Koladi Govindan Kutty, from Tirurangadi, the party changed its plans later.
Jose K. Mani, who now leads the Kerala Congress (M), is contesting from Pala, a seat held by his father, the late K.M. Mani. M.K. Muneer, Indian Union Muslim League leader, is the son of the late Chief Minister C.H. Mohammed Koya.
He is now being fielded from Koduvally. V.E. Gafoor, IUML candidate from Kalamassery, is the son of the former Minister V. K. Ebrahim Kunju.
Left Democratic Front candidate from Chavara Sujith Vijayan is the son of the late MLA Vijayan Pillai, who was elected on the Communist Marxist Party ticket. Dr. Vijayan is pitted against Revolutionary Socialist Party’s Shibu Baby John, son of the late Minister Baby John. Babu Divakaran, son of the late RSP leader T.K. Divakaran, is being fielded from Eravipuram.
M.V. Shreyams Kumar, Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) State president, who is contesting from Kalpetta, is the son of the late M.P. Veerendra Kumar. K.P. Mohanan, who is contesting from Koothuparamba on the LJD ticket, is the son of the late socialist leader P.R. Kurup. Anoop Jacob, Kerala Congress (Jacob) candidate from Piravom, is the son of the late party leader T.M. Jacob, and K.B. Ganesh Kumar, who is being fielded from Pathanapuram, is the son of Kerala Congress (B) founder R. Balakrishna Pillai.
