The Hindu : Kurien, Chacko unlikely to get tickets

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 14, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Kurien, Chacko unlikely to get tickets

By Girish Menon

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH. 13. Two prominent Congress leaders, P.J. Kurien and P.C. Chacko, might find themselves in the wilderness of electoral politics because of the vagaries of groupism.

Mr. Kurien has failed to find a place in the panel of names submitted by the KPCC election committee. Mr. Chacko, who has been included in the list from Mukundapuram, is unlikely to get a ticket. Mr. Kurien apparently could not find a constituency to contest. He would have preferred Mavelikara from where he had won on several occasions in the past, but the AICC's decision to re-nominate sitting MPs from their respective constituencies and the Nair Service Society's preference for the AICC secretary, Ramesh Chennithala, found him in the cold.

Mr. Kurien won the Mavelikara seat in 1991, 1996, and 1998. He contested from Idukki in 1999 and lost to Francis George of the Kerala Congress(J) by 9,000 votes. Mr. Kurien has lost out despite being known to be a close aide of A.K. Antony.

Mr. Chacko has been a migratory bird in electoral politics. He began his electoral debut from Thrissur and successfully contested from Mukundapuram before being shifted to Idukki and Kottayam. He won the Idukki seat in 1998 by a margin of 6,350 votes, but lost the Kottayam seat in 1999 by more than 10,000 votes.

Mr. Chacko had been identified with the Karunakaran group, but recently he fell out with the veteran leader even while maintaining a good relationship with K. Muraleedharan. He reportedly fell out with Mr. Muraleedharan as well.

The two leaders have electorally succeeded many a time owing to the peculiar communal equation the Congress has been able to strike, being the representatives of non-Catholic Christian denominations. But in the current overplay of factional politics and the changing dynamics of communal equations, they would find it hard to get a slot.

Mr. Kurien could still be in circulation by being considered for a Rajya Sabha seat at the time of the next vacancy. The leaders such as Vayalar Ravi had nominated Mr. Kurien and Mr. Chacko for the lone Rajya Sabha seat, but the KPCC election committee did not take a decision on this and preferred to leave it to the AICC president for a decision.

The Rajya Sabha ticket is most likely to go to Mr. Karunakaran, according to indications.

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