Congress concedes its seats to allies

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH 28. The UDF High Power Committee today released the list of constituencies each of its partners would contest, but not before the Congress made the rare gesture of conceding a few seats to some of the partners in the interests of maintaining the coalition's solidarity.

The Congress cut the Gordian knot to settle the dispute of the Kerala Congress(M) and the Kerala Congress (Jacob) by conceding the Kuttanad seat to the latter, in lieu of the Kaduthuruthy seat, which has been allotted to the Kerala Congress(M).

As per the understanding between the coalition partners at the end of rather protracted deliberations, the Congress would contest 88 seats as against the 94 it had in 1996. The IUML would contest 23 seats, the KC(M) 11, including one Independent, the JSS five, the RSP(B) and the Kerala Congress (Jacob) four each, the CMP three and the Kerala Congress(B) two. One of the highlights of the released list, according to the UDF convener, Mr. K. Sankaranarayanan, and the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. A. K. Antony, is that there would be no ``friendly contests'' among the partners as in 1996. The final picture emerged only late on Tuesday night, after another round of difficult dialogues.

Addressing a press conference here today, Mr. Sankaranarayanan said the talks had ended on a cordial note. Each of the UDF parties would announce its list of candidates separately. It had been decided that the constituents, including the Congress and the IUML, would field independents in a few seats. The onus would be on the respective constituent to allot the seats to these candidates.

He reiterated that the eight-party UDF would have no understanding whatsoever with any party outside its framework. Neither would the UDF accept any kind of friendly contests, he said. In reply to a question, Mr. Sankaranarayanan said he had held discussions with various social organisations, and efforts would be made to give tickets to those who have earned the respect and affection of all sections of society.

Asked whether there would be any further changes in the declared list, Mr. Sankaranarayanan said it had been left to the respective parties to sort it out among themselves, though he did not think such adjustments would take place.

He said the UDF HPC had agreed that all its constituents should field candidates with winning chances. There would be no candidate who did not subscribe to the principles of the UDF and the Congress.

Asked about the ticket allocation in the Congress, Mr. Sankaranarayanan said the State Election Committee had begun deliberations. However, no clear picture had emerged and this was true in the case of even Mr. Antony. The list approved by the KPCC scrutiny committee would have to be ratified by the Congress Parliamentary Board.

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