K.K. Rema likely to contest from Vadakara

The Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) has been weighing its options on two leaders, Ms. Rema and party State secretary N. Venu.

March 13, 2021 01:23 am | Updated 10:29 am IST - Kozhikode

K.K. Rema

K.K. Rema

The State secretariat of the Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) will meet here on Saturday to take a final call on the candidature of K.K. Rema, wife of slain RMP founder T.P. Chandrasekharan, in Vadakara for the Assembly polls.

The party has been weighing its options on two leaders, Ms. Rema and party State secretary N. Venu, ever since the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) approached the RMP leadership to put up a common candidate to fight the Left Democratic Front (LDF).

The United Democratic Front (UDF) preferred to back Ms. Rema in the hope of influencing voters in neighbouring Koyilandy, Kuttiyadi, Nadapuram and Kunnamangalam Assembly constituencies. The IUML-Congress combine is planning to highlight political violence as an issue in the Kannur and Kozhikode Assembly segments. Chandrasekharan, a CPI(M) dissident, was killed by a seven-member gang at Onchiyam near Vadakara on May 4, 2012.

Ms. Rema told The Hindu that she was ready to enter the electoral fray again and with the support of the UDF in Vadakara. “But the party also has to make a final decision,” she said. The UDF had worked out an electoral understanding with the RMP in the local body polls held in December.

The nine-member State secretariat of the RMP was to meet last week, but the meeting had to be called off as Ms. Rema tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and was admitted to a private hospital in Kozhikode city.

Ms. Rema had contested unsuccessfully in the Assembly polls in 2016, securing over 20,000 votes. She then had to face the nominees of socialist rivals — Janata Dal (S) in the LDF and the Janata Dal (United) in the UDF. The seat was won by C.K. Nanu of JD(S) by a margin of over 9,500 votes.

She also had to face two other candidates with the same name. One of them even had the same initials, K.K., while the other had T.P. as initials. All the three contested as Independents as RMP was not a recognised State party.

Now, the Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD), which has been inducted into the LDF fold, has been offered the Vadakara seat, and the party has decided to field its district president Manayath Chandran.

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