THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KPCC president Mullapally Ramachandran is feeling the pressure from the two dominant factions in the party demanding a jumbo committee.
After a daylong fast demanding a CBI probe into the killing of two minor girls after repeated rape in Walayar, Palakkad, on Monday, he will hold one more round of talks with former chief minister Oommen Chandy and Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala on the organisational revamp before leaving for New Delhi.
Before the Lok Sabha elections, Mr Chennithala and Mr Chandy had agreed to have a 25 member-committee comprising general secretaries and a treasurer. But after the elections when the 21- member Political Affairs Committee (PAC) met last week, they demanded a 30-member jumbo panel.
It came as a shock for Mr Ramachandran who has been working to downsize it to 24 from the existing 26 members.
"Both the factions are keen on increasing the size to 30 to 34. If earlier, 'I' group got the 'one-man, one-post' relaxed, now it's the turn of 'A' group to squeeze in as many legislators and MPs as possible," said a Congress leader.
Senior leaders like V. M. Sudheeran, P. C. Chacko and P. J. Kurien had already expressed their displeasure on it. The recent PAC meeting had decided to hold a Long March on the Walayar issue from Palakkad to Thiruvananthapuram.
But a source close to the president said he realised it would turn a damp squib without a committee in place to support.
"He is in a catch-22 situation leading the party all alone. Unfortunately, AICC organising general secretary K. C. Venugopal and his deputy, Mukul Wasnik, who is in-charge of Kerala, also want to bring in their loyalists instead of solving the crisis," he told DC.
