Thiruvananthapuram : Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will lead the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in the Assembly polls due in April-May next year.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president V M Sudheeran has endorsed the name of the incumbent chief minister saying his rule had strengthened the party in the state. He made his stand clear while talking to a television channel here on Wednesday.
“Though the party will take a final decision on the chief ministership depending upon the political situation prevailing at the time of the election, I have no doubt that Chandy will be the natural choice as the party has gained strength during his current term as chief minister,” Sudheeran said. The party chief said that various developmental and welfare programmes initiated by his government were the best bet for the Congress in the coming polls. He said that the party will go to the people for a fresh mandate highlighting these achievements.
Chandy’s name for another stint has been under the consideration of the party ever since it won the Aruvikkara by-election. The victory of Congress candidate K S Sabarinathan by over 10, 000 votes was viewed as a major victory for Chandy, who had termed the poll as a referendum on his government.
After winning the assembly election by a wafer thin majority in 2011, the UDF continued its winning streak by winning all the three by-elections since then and bagging 12 of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 elections. This was the second largest contingent of MPs from a state the Congress has got in the last election.
Chandy’s position will be strengthened if the UDF is able to repeat its 2010 performance in the election to the three-tier local bodies to be held on November 2 and 5. Over 60 per cent of the local bodies the UDF won in 2010 were considered impressive since it marked the end of the decades-old Left Democratic Front grip on the local bodies.
As in the case of the by-polls Chandy has declared the local body polls as a referendum of sorts on his government ahead of the Assembly elections. The Chief Minister has been exuding hope that the next poll will see a change in the pattern of the two dominant fronts alternating power in the state every five years.
A survey conducted by a television channel after the Aruvikkara by-election showed the UDF enjoying an upper hand in the coming election. A new caste combination being worked out by the BJP in association with a cultural organisation of a numerically strong Hindu community has further boosted the UDF chances.
