Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy who is contesting as the Congress-led UDF candidate from Puthupally constituency for 11th time in a row, on Friday filed his nomination papers for the May 16 Assembly polls.
Chandy, who has represented the constituency 10 consecutive times in the Assembly, is once again trying his luck from Puthupally in the central Travancore district of Kottayam.
Chandy, the face of Congress in Kerala, was accompanied by his son Chandy Oommen, Kottayam MP Jose K Mani and thousands of party and UDF workers. He arrived to file three sets of nomination papers before the Block Development Officer Sreelekha, at Pallikathodu in Puthupally.
The Chief Minister, who is making the 11th bid from the constituency, was greeted by 11 children with roses.
The Chief Minister notwithstanding allegations, including solar scam against him, seems to be confident of sailing through comfortably in his home constituency of Puthuppally. Jaik C Thomas (CPI-M), the state president of Students Federation of India who is challenging 73-year-old Chandy, does not seem much of a threat to the senior Congress leader, political observers say.
“I am getting full support of the people. We had come to power with a thin majority of two MLAs. There were even talks that the government will not last for six months. Today we have completed five years and now the talk is about continuation of this government,” Chandy said.