Congress leader Venugopal not in the race for a third term
Tr ivan drum: senior congress leader kcvenug opal, the two-time lawmaker representing Alappuzha constituency in the outgoing Parliament, on Sunday, said he’s not in the race for a third term.
Kerala is set to vote on April 23 to elect 20 MPS in the staggered national elections, and the party had reportedly nominated him to contest from the constituency again.
Ater the takeover of Rahul Gandhi as Congress president from his mother Sonia Gandhi, Venugopal had emerged as the most powerful leader from Kerala, and he’ll now play a crucial role in choosing candidates for all the 20 seats.
He’s now a member of the highest decisionmaking body, the Congress Working Commitee (CWC), and its general secretary in charge of organisation and part of Gandhi’s team finalising candidates for all the 543 seats across India.
“I have a lot of responsibilities here. It’s unfair to contest an election from Alappuzha while sitting in Delhi,” he said.
“It’s Rahul Gandhi who gave me responsibilities, and he’ll understand my difficulties.”
Venugopal, who hails from Payyannur in the northern district of Kannur, contested for the state assembly for the first time in 1996 from Alappuzha and won the seat three consecutive terms.
He shited to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s Parliament, resigning from the state assembly and winning Alappuzha in 2009, which he repeated in 2014, and became a federal minister.
Kerala Congress leadership trio - former chief minister Oommen Chandy, leader of the opposition Ramesh Chennithala and state unit chief Mullappally Ramachandran - had prepared a list of candidates including Venugopal.
Ramachandran, who represents Vadakara constituency, had also bowed out, though his name still figures on the list. Congress will sweat it out to find a replacement for both.
The trio will meet the national team, including Venugopal, to finalise the list even as the primary opponent Let Democratic Front (LDF), which rules the state, has gone far ahead in the campaigning ater announcing their candidates much in advance.