Muralidharan to take on CPI-M in Vadakara
Ending days of stalemate over selection of Congress candidates, party national leadership has zeroed in on K Muralidharan, MLA, to take on P Jayarajan, Communist Party of India — Marxist (CPI-M) candidate in Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency in the April 23 parliamentary elections. The decision to field the son of former chief minister K Karunakaran caught the Let Democratic Front (LDF) camp as well as Congress leaders by surprise. Efforts to persuade state Congress chief and siting MP Mullappally Ramachandran to contest from his home turf failed to cut any ice with the senior leader, who resisted the move from the beginning.
Congress leadership was in a dilemma ater candidates in Kozhikode and Kannur constituencies demanded fielding the best candidate from Vadakara. Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a partner in United Democratic Front (UDF), and Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP), which decided to support Congress to ensure defeat of Jayarajan in Vadakara also backed the idea. Muralidharan was never considered for Vadakara, but search for a strong candidate resulted in his unexpected selection.
On Tuesday, Oommen Chandy intervened in the issue and contacted Muralidharan, a former MP from Kozhikode, by 11 am. At present he represents Vatiyoorkavu in Trivandrum district in the state legislature.
Mullappally Ramachandran said that Murali has agreed to contest ater discussions. When contacted, Murali said that he will contest if the party asks. Muralidharan said democracy would defeat the culture of political violence institutionalised by the ruling LDF in the State.
“Vadakara is seen as a fight against violent politics. I am ready to give a strong fight now that the party has asked me to do so. It does not mater who my opponent is. Only the ideological alignment of the candidates’ mater,” he said. “The Congress strongly condemns the use of assassination as a political tool to eliminate dissenters. That is going to be the central plank of the electoral batle against the CPI-M in Vadakara”, Muralidharan told media persons on Tuesday.