By PTI
KOCHI: The Congress on Tuesday announced that Uma Thomas, widow of late party leader P T Thomas, would be the UDF candidate for the Thrikkakara assembly seat in the upcoming by- election there.
The Congress has fielded 56-year-old Uma Thomas in the election in an apparent bid to bank on her late husband’s popularity and the sentiments connected to his death which necessitated the by-poll in the constituency.
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) issued a release in the evening stating that party president Sonia Gandhi has approved the candidature of Uma Thomas, the only name forwarded by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) to the high command.
A couple of hours before the AICC decision, KPCC held a meeting of senior party leaders to discuss who should be nominated as the UDF candidate for the Thrikkakara by-election.
After the meeting, KPCC president and MP K Sudhakaran told reporters that all the members unanimously decided on one name and the same has been forwarded to the AICC for its approval.
However, neither he nor his senior party colleagues there disclosed the sole name forwarded to the AICC.
For the last few days, there has been a lot of speculation that Uma Thomas was one of the names being considered for being nominated as a candidate for the upcoming bye poll on May 31.
Earlier in the day, Uma Thomas told a TV channel she has no information regarding that and that she would take a decision only after she receives official word from the party.
After her candidature was confirmed, she, while speaking to reporters here, said that just like the people of Thrikkakara helped and supported her late husband, they will vote for her too.
She said she that intends to continue the work that her husband had done for the constituency and that she expected the same support from the people that he had received.
When she was told by reporters that LDF intends to increase its tally in the assembly to 100, she said, “What if we stop them at 99?” She said that issues like the SilverLine project and problems associated with it as well as how the Left government dealt with those opposing it would be the subject matter of her poll campaign.
Earlier in the day, she had said that she was very familiar with the constituency as she has been living there for around 20-25 years and has played an active part in the political work and poll campaigns along with her husband.
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