Thiruvananthapuram: The revamp of the Congress in the state will be a herculean task for KPCC president Mullapally Ramachandran given the pulls and pressures from the two groups. Mr K. Muraleedharan MLA, campaign committee chairman, has objected to the plans of the ‘A’ and ‘I’ groups to hold a meeting of the existing office-bearers with Mr Mullapally and his three working presidents to decide on the norms for the party revamp. The current office-bearers consist of five vice-presidents, 22 general secretaries, 39 secretaries and a treasurer.
Efforts were already on to delay the reorganisation with ‘A’ and ‘I’ camp leaders maintaining that a preliminary meeting of all the office-bearers should be held first. But Mr Muraleedharan opposed the plans. He told DC that when Mr V. M. Sudheeran and Mr M. M. Hassan became KPCC presidents, they too were forced to call the meeting of the existing committee.
“But this time I said there is no point in calling the existing office-bearers for the meeting. The next meeting of the political affairs committee will be held here on October 8 and it should decide on the norms,” he said.
This has not gone down well with the two groups led by Mr Oommen Chandy and Mr Ramesh Chennithala and the rank and file of the party. Those who have been holding office for a decade and more are likely to be removed.
A KPCC general secretary told DC that if Mr Mullapally stands firm against accommodating the favourites from the two groups, he will start a new trend.
“When Mullapally took charge of his post at Indira Bhavan, he had sought the support of the two group leaders. It remains to be seen how he will deal with the recommendation of Muraleedharan,” the general secretary said.
