Congress workers on March 19 feted MLA K. Muraleedharan amidst strong indications that the party's central leadership had chosen him to fight P. Jayarajan, strongman of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), in Kannur in the coming Lok Sabha election. They are likely to contest from the Vadakara constituency in north Kerala.
Setting the stage for a sharply bipolar and highly charged electoral battle in a political turf that witnessed internecine strife between the Congress, the BJP and the CPI(M) workers recently, Mr. Muraleedharan said democracy would defeat the abhorrent subculture of political violence institutionalised by the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the State.
"I am ready to give a strong fight now that the party has asked me to do so. It does not matter who my opponent is. Only the ideological alignment of the candidates' matter. The Congress strongly condemns the use of assassination as a political tool to eliminate dissenters. That is going to be the central plank of the electoral battle against the CPI(M) in Vadakara", he said.