Thiruvananthapuram​: The Congress in the state will not sport a new look for the coming Lok Sabha elections with the group leaders scuttling any move for a KPCC shakeup ahead of it. PCC president Mullapally Ramachandran's hope of undertaking a statewide yatra under a new committee was dashed during the talks held by the state leaders with the AICC in Delhi on Wednesday.
Though the 21-member political affairs committee had favoured giving a new look to the party, the groups led by Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala and AICC general secretary Oommen Chandy ensured that their tried and tested aides remain with them.
Mr Mullapally, Mr Chennithala and KPCC election campaign committee chairman K. Muraleedharan MLA held discussions with senior leader A. K. Antony and AICC general secretary in-charge of the state, Mukul Wasnik, in Delhi when it was decided that the party will be revamped only after six to seven months. Mr Chandy and UDF convener Benny Behanan did not attend the meeting.
However, a few committees on election management and media would be formed with a maximum of 15 leaders in each committee.
The PAC meeting scheduled for January 22 has been postponed, it is learnt.
"The leaders without any posts in the party for years would be squeezed into the new committees. Mukul Wasnik has pacified the former DCC presidents who had been bugging him to make them KPCC general secretaries. Senior Congress leaders have also told the AICC that group sharing mechanism should not be encouraged," said a senior Congress MLA.
The former DCC presidents have expressed their disappointment to the AICC over being sidelined.
"After the Lok Sabha elections, the group leaders will claim that panchayat and Assembly elections are due. We don't think this leadership will ever care to revitalise the party. The PAC also cuts a sorry figure as its decision has been ignored," said a former DCC president.
The KPCC leadership will have a tough task convincing dozens of leaders who had been trying to get into the new committee.
