Kerala Cong revamp delayed, senior leaders to be consulted

Sudhakaran said he would be talking to the concerned leaders to avoid a fiasco similar to when the party announced the district Congress committee (DCC) presidents list.

The organisational revamping in Kerala Congress has been further delayed after senior leaders V M Sudheeran, who recently resigned from the Congress, and former PCC chief Mullapally Ramachandran, among others, expressed reservations over the proposed state office-bearers’ list.

Kerala Congress president K Sudhakaran, who was in New Delhi last week to finalise the list, returned to the state capital without the list on Tuesday. (PTI)

Party state president K Sudhakaran, who was in New Delhi last week to finalise the list, returned to the state capital without the list on Tuesday. Sudhakaran said he would be talking to the concerned leaders to avoid a fiasco similar to when the party announced the district Congress committee (DCC) presidents list.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary KC Venugopal clarified that he was not behind the delay after a section of leaders blamed him. Talking to a news channel on Tuesday, he rejected charges by a section of Kerala Congress that he was cultivating his group in the faction-ridden party.

“It is completely wrong. There is a tendency to put everything on me if anything happens in the state unit. Our only aim is to strengthen the party in the state,” he said on Tuesday.

The announcement of the new DCC presidents’ list by Sudhakaran sent Kerala Congress into a frenzy, with disciplinary action against several leaders, and some leaders resigned over their disagreement with the list. Senior leaders like former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala also aired their displeasure in public.

After a poor show in the April assembly elections, the party was forced to carry out major surgery in the state unit. It decided to clip the wings of two powerful groups and elevated a new crop of leaders. K Sudhakaran, a tough leader from Kannur, became the PCC president, and another popular leader V D Satheesan was appointed as the opposition leader, sidelining two powerful blocs led by Chandy and Chennithala who ruled the party for more than a decade.

Currently, the PCC has 100-odd secretaries, several vice-presidents and other office-bearers. But the new PCC will have only 50 members, said Sudhakaran, adding he’s planning to transform the party into a semi-cadre organisation, and hard work and organising capacity will be only criteria for leaders, not their factional affiliations.