Kochi: With Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president V. M. Sudheeran refusing to play ball, the 'A' group was on Monday forced to drop its move to anoint a political greenhorn as Kochi mayor and instead look for an experienced candidate from among its councillors for the post.
The KPCC president communicated to the faction leaders — Dominic Presentation, Benny Behenan and K. M. A. Mather — that the party will under no circumstance allow the move to nominate first-time councilor Shiny Mathew violating the norms, according to reliable sources.
"The norms are clear: the candidates for top posts must have administrative or party-level experience," the sources said. "Any dilution in the norms would lower the dignity of the party among the public and hence we cannot afford to do so."
With this, the 'A' faction's choice stands limited to Soumini Jain and Delena Pinheiro, who have served several terms. The Kochi Corporation council is scheduled to meet on Tuesday to elect the mayor.
The 'A' faction was all set to announce the name of Ms Mathew on Monday saying she had the backing of the Latin Catholic Church and that it would be unwise to ignore the church ahead of the Assembly elections, scheduled in April-May.
When the KPCC norms came in its way, the faction even tried a compromise formula with divided term for her and Ms Jain but Mr Sudheeran stood his ground.
"Any violation in the norms will be looked at as a serious act of indiscipline," he reportedly made it clear to DCC president V. J. Poulose also.
Meanwhile, the tussle in the UDF for the post of deputy mayor intensified with the Muslim League, which has two members in the council, taking the issue to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
It is understood that Industries Minister P. K. Kunjalikkutty took up the party's claim with Mr Chandy. The Congress, which won 35 seats in the 74-member council, had zeroed in on T. J. Vinod for the post.
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