Thiruvananthapuram: Congress leaders in the state are eagerly looking forward to knowing whether there would be a last minute change of guard in the new KPCC chief other than the crowd favourite and Legislative Speaker G. Karthikeyan.
The other aspirants to the coveted post are senior Congress leader V. M. Sudheeran, Union Minister of State for Home Mullapally Ramachandran, AICC secretary V. D. Satheeshan, KPCC Vice President M. M. Hassan, Kannur MP K. Sudhakaran and Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation K. C. Venugopal.
Congress sources told DC that Union Minister of Defense A. K. Antony had been receiving pressure from these leaders. With Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and the incumbent KPCC Chief and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala leaving for New Delhi on January. 9, the AICC is likely to take a final decision on the prospective KPCC chief only then. The current session of the Legislative Assembly will be having a short break from January 9 to 19 when it is most likely to announce the name of the new party chief.
“It will be the prerogative of Chennithala regarding who should be his successor, and that is Karthikeyan. So Chandy is also rooting for Karthikeyan. It will be good for the party if G. K. comes to the helm,” said a senior Congress leader to DC.
With an 85 per cent chance for G.K, there is also talk of who will become the Speaker. Though current Deputy Speaker of the assembly N. Sakthan’s name is being discussed as G.K.’s successor, Congress leaders are not convinced of his ability to control the members.
He has the backing of Vaikundaswami Dharma Pracharana Sabha (VSDP). But if faction and community equations are to be balanced, then Pathanamthitta MLA and ‘A’ group leader K. Sivadasan Nair will become the Speaker.
