Sajeev Joseph of the Congress, the United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate in the Irikkur constituency, filed his nomination on Thursday despite a section of his party members raising a banner of protest.
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Soon after filing the papers, Mr. Joseph began campaigning by visiting religious leaders and prominent persons in the segment. The Congress ‘A’ faction, which is against his candidature, kept off the campaigning.
The constituency is traditionally allocated with the Congress ‘A, which proposed Sony Sebastian as the candidate. However, the party decided to nominate Mr. Joseph, said to be a confidant of Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal.
Senior Congress leaders K.C. Joseph, the outgoing MLA of Irikkur, and M.M. Hassan, UDF convener, held discussions with the Congress (A) leaders, but failed to placate them. The party is now banking on Oommen Chandy, who will arrive in Kannur on Friday, for conciliatory talks. Mr. Chandy will also hold talks with K. Sudhakaran, State Congress working president, who had put the blame of the controversy on Mr. Venugopal.
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On Tuesday, the Congress ‘A’ leaders had organised a separate convention at Sreekantapuram and decided to ask the high command to field Mr. Sebastian in the constituency.