Sons, Sons-in-law, Relatives of Politicians Throw Their Hat in Poll Ring in Kerala

A plethora of politicians' relatives–including sons, daughters and sons- in-law, are in the fray for the April 6 Assembly polls in Kerala, hoping to cash in on their legacy to woo voters. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's son-in-law P A Mohammed Riyas, the national president of Democratic Youth Federation of India, is making his debut in the Assembly polls from Beypore, while Congress leader K Muraleedharan, MP and Padmaja Venugopal, children of former Chief Minister late K Karunakaran have been fielded from Nemom and Thrissur respectively. It's a reflection of this kind of politics that is found in political parties irrespective of ideology going after relatives, Prabhash, former political science professor with the University of Kerala, told P T I. Lathika Subhash, Congress' ex-Mahila Morcha president, had quit the party after a "mundan protest" on being denied a ticket by the UDF and is contesting as an independent from Ettumanoor. Three sons making their electoral debut are P E Abdul Gafoor, the son of former minister Ibrahim Kunju, who was denied a seat by the IUML, an ally of the Congress-led UDF,Sumesh K Achuthan, son of former Congress MLA, K Achuthan, and LDF-Independent candidate Dr V Sujith, son of former MLA late N Vijayan Pillai. Among others, theLDF has fielded former minister K B Ganesh Kumar, who followed his father Kerala Congress founder leader R Balakrishna Pillai into politics and K V Mohanan of LJD.