West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) released Saturday its first list of 70 candidates for the Kerala Assembly elections. The party will be contesting from all 140 seats in the southern state.
The second list will be released after Banerjee, who also heads the party, approves it, AITC's Kerala state president Manoj Sankaranellur was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.
Banerjee Friday said that she would expose the "unholy" alliance between the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The state president of the party's trade union wing (INTTUC), Subhash Kundannoor, said that Congress leaders in Kerala who are not happy with the coalition between the Congress and the CPI(M) in West Bengal will be joining the AITC to fight the "unholy nexus."
Banerjee had also said that the Congress-CPI(M) coalition is trying to "fool" the people in Kerala. Kundannoor said that Congress leaders, including Chengannur MLA Sobhana George, would be joining the AITC soon to "expose" the two parties "which are trying to fool the people."
Banerjee would be holding rallies in state capital Thiruvananthapuram, besides Kochi and Kozhikode, in April, Sankaranellur was quoted as saying by PTI.
Sankaranellur said that the AITC will be seeking support from the 15 lakh Bengalis in Kerala and claimed that his party has at least two lakh members in the state.
Kerala, which is going to polls on May 16, 2016, has 140 constituencies. The state will also hold biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha March 21 for three seats.
The Shiv Sena will also be contesting from 45 seats independently, the New Indian Express reported.
