The confusion regarding the UDF candidate in Dharmadam constituency is finally over, with Congress handing over the symbol to DCC secretary C Raghunath, on Friday.
Mr. Raghunath had filed his nomination on Thursday soon after Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee Working president K Sudhakaran had declined to contest in the constituency, despite the KPCC and the Congress high command requesting him to contest here.
However, there was uncertainty after KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran responded that he did not know what Mr. Raghunath had filed and that the party is yet to announce its candidate. However, Mr. Raghunath confirmed that the nomination papers were submitted after getting the nod from the party.
Mr. Raghunath had said that the KPCC had collected his details to allow the symbol and he was ready to withdraw his candidature if the party demanded it.
Two days after the Kerala Congress (M) faction led by senior leader PJ Joseph and former Union Minister PC Thomas’ Kerala Congress decided to merge into a single entity ‘Kerala Congress’, the former and his colleague Mons Joseph, both sitting UDF legislators, on Friday resigned ahead of the forthcoming polls.
The resignation comes at a time when both of them agreed to contest the April 6 Assembly elections. Besides, the legal advice that they had received was that in order to avoid any future complications, it would be better if they quit and submit their nominations.
However, Joseph told the media that their decision to resign was done to ensure more transparency.
It was on Wednesday when Thomas who was willing to return to the Congress-led UDF through the party spearheaded by Joseph, decided that it was mutually beneficial for both of them to come under the name of the Kerala Congress party, which was formed by his father PT Chacko in the mid 60s.
Thomas’ party — Kerala Congress — last month had returned to be a part of the BJP-led NDA and was also seen among the leaders ahead of the state-wide yatra helmed by state BJP chief K Surendran.
But, Thomas had rather decided to opt out of the NDA.
The reason behind Joseph’s decision to take Thomas along with him was because despite repeated legal efforts to get the ‘two leaves’ symbol, which has been allotted to the faction of the Kerala Congress (M) led by Jose K. Mani, whose party is now an ally of the CPI-M led Left Democratic Front, Joseph was left stranded, after various courts ruled in favour of Jose K. Mani, who was given the ‘two leaves’ symbol.
Thomas represented the Muvattupuzha Lok Sabha constituency between 1989 and 2009.
In 2003, he became Union Minister of State for Law in the Vajpayee cabinet and in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls he won as an NDA candidate from his home turf.
But after 2009, he has been moving from one political front to the other, and finally he is all set to return to his original fold and thereby he will now be a UDF leader.
Now, the question remains whether the two leaders will get a proper symbol for them to contest for the polls, who were allotted 10 seats by the Congress-led UDF.
The video was meant to attack the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s earlier stand on the Sabarimala issue.
A video released by the Congress party on the Sabarimala controversy of 2018, has been withdrawn after criticism amid assembly polls in Kerala. The one-minute-video showed few male devotees of Lord Ayyappa, dressed in the traditional clothes, chanting prayers and trekking while a young woman dressed in modern clothes walks past them with police escort.
The video was meant to attack the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s earlier stand on the Sabarimala issue, The News Minute reported.
The Supreme Court had later supported the entry of women in the temple in a verdict in 2018. The video was part of the opposition campaign for the 2021 assembly elections in the state.
The video begins with prayers and chants of some men and two traditionally dressed women in mundum neriyathum before they set for Sabrimala. Then there are visuals of a young woman wearing lipstick, packing a backpack and going off to Sabarimala is shown, to changing background music.
The video further shows the women passing by the men wearing shoes and headphones clicking a selfie amid police escort. The video shows the police clearing the way and the women returning in 10 minutes. The two traditional women are shocked seeing the incident.
The video draws the context of the Sabrimala temple controversy and the SC judgment in 2018. While the BJP and Congress led UDF held massive protests against women entry, the LDF decided to follow the SC verdict.
The video ends with the UDF’s promise to formulate laws to “protect the interest of believers.” Critics say that the video is communal and misogynistic. After widespread criticism the video was pulled down.
