Congress to hold meeting on November 11

KOCHI: The Congress in Ernakulam would be meeting on November 11 for the first round of discussions with regard to the coming Piravom byelection. KPCC, DCC members, MPs, MLAs and block panchayat presidents would attend the meeting. “The main agenda of the meeting is the Piravom byelection. It is just a preliminary meeting and we will have the views of various leaders with regard to the election,” DCC president V J Paulose has said.After the meeting, the whole party machinery would be geared up for the election, he said. The leadership is not taking the byelection lightly as it has a slender majority in the Assembly. “We are serious of winning the seat and a win is must for the UDF,” Paulose said. In the 140-member Assembly, the ruling front now has 71 members which means a slender majority of one member.The Congress had already kickstarted the campaign and the condolence meeting held in Piravom to mourn T M Jacob, which was attended by top Congress leaders, is considered the first step towards the elections. After the condolence meeting, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala had held talks with the district Congress leadership. The leadership has already made it clear that it would be leading the campaign rather than entrusting the whole campaigning with the KC(Jacob).The KC(J) has named the late T M Jacob’s son and Youth Front leader Anoop Jacob as its candidate for the Piravom seat. Though the Left Democratic Front (LDF) has not yet announced its candidate, it is rumoured that M J Jacob, who had contested the seat in 1996 and 2011, would be the candidate.