THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after reports of the jumbo list of KPCC grabbed eyeballs, senior Congress leaders have swung into action giving some relief to state Congress chief Mullappally Ramachandran, who has been striving hard to strike a balance between highly polarised group politics in the state unit. According to sources, the party high command has trimmed the final list from over 130 office-bearers to just 50. It has mainly scrapped six working president posts suggested by the ‘A’ and ‘I’ group managers.
Earlier on Thursday, Thrissur MP T N Prathapan communicated his desire to stay away from the race for the working president post, which was then followed by VD Satheesan, MLA, as both of them hold legislative body posts. Sources within the party say Satheesan, a loyalist of Ramesh Chennithala-led ‘I’ faction, was forced to follow suit after Prathapan, who is considered close to V M Sudheeran, announced his decision to decline the working president post and sought to implement the ‘One man, One post’ policy of Mullappally. Prathapan’s move was aimed at Kodikunnil Suresh, MP and K Sudhakaran, MP, who had been unyielding to shed their organisational positions, despite being elected as MPs.
All these developments had the blessing of senior Congress leader A K Antony and things changed quickly during the day when Congress president Sonia Gandhi expressed her displeasure at the jumbo list and directed the state leaders to tweak it. In fact, ‘I’ group leader Chennithala fiercely fought against the ‘One man One Post’ policy since his camp would be the major loser if it was followed.
And when the day ended, Mullappally has had the last laugh as he could shoot down some of the heavyweights of the two prominent groups. However, it remains to be seen whether there would be any eleventh hour manoeuvring to accommodate the heavyweights of the two groups. Though Mullappally was appointed KPCC chief in 2018, there had been no organisational revamp except for the appointment of three working presidents to pacify the group leaders. And he had been fighting hard to get his stance vindicated. His decision to not join hands with the Left in the protests against the Citizen (Amendment) Act was vehemently opposed by the two groups in the beginning and the high command had to intervene to set things right.
‘List in two phases’
T’Puram: The list of KPCC office-bearers would be announced in two phases, KPCC chief Mullappally Ramchandran told reporters on Thursday in Thiruvananthapuram. He said the names of vice-presidents and general secretaries would be announced in the first phase and the high command would decide who would be the working presidents. His decision to not consider the people’s representatives has been communicated to the high command, he said.