Thiruvananthapuram, July 18 With 79-year-old Oommen Chandy, one of the most affable politicians Kerala has ever had, which of his three children will be taking forward his political legacy is going to be closely watched.
The two-time chief minister Chandy has a son - Chandy Oommen and two daughters - Dr Maria and Achu.
His son Oommen was a full time member of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra which began from Kanyakumari and ended in Kashmir and hence he stands a good chance.
But there are indications that the national leadership is keen to mould his youngest daughter Achu.
Incidentally, the Congress in Kerala has seen children taking over the mantle of the family legacy and the best example for it is when the legendary Congress veteran K.Karunakaran brought in his son way back in 1984 and fielded him from the Kozhikode Lok Sabha seat.
But Karunakaran suffered a rude jolt when after managing to get a Lok Sabha seat for his daughter Padmaja Venugopal in 2004, she lost.
Subsequently, though she was fielded twice to the Thrissur Assembly seat, she failed to win and is presently a state party office-bearer.
K.S.Sabarinath was another, who quit his Corporate job after his father – Kerala Assembly speaker G.Karthikeyan passed away in 2015 and won a by-election and repeated his victory in 2016, but had to bite the dust at the 2021 Assembly polls.
Meanwhile, there is another school of thought that in the larger interest of the party and which is going to be beneficial for the party which failed to regain power in the 2021 assembly polls, it would be better to field someone outside the family and the name of the son of the former Kottayam district Congress Committee president Kurian Joy is also in the air.
So with around half of the term of the present Assembly to end, once the coffin of the most popular and lovable politician is lowered into the grave of his home parish at Puthupally, it’s certain that the discussion of his successor will gather steam.
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