Thiruvananthapuram: The draft list of DCC presidents given by group leaders Ramesh Chennithala (currently Opposition leader) and former chief minister Oommen Chandy to the AICC leadership is a mix of their loyalists. When Assembly candidates were finalized, the AICC leadership was keen to see more youth and women leaders getting priority in future postings. But that is still a question mark.
Despite the AICC leadership making it clear that factionalism would not be entertained, the status quo will be maintained by the three senior leaders comprising KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran, Chandy and Chennithala. In Kottayam district, Chandy will have the last word on who should be the next DCC president.
In order to appease Sudheeran, the two senior leaders have promised that they would rope in his trusted lieutenant T. N. Prathapan in Thrissur. Among the women leaders who are trying to get a DCC president post are Padmaja Venugopal (Thrissur), Lathika Subhash (Kottayam), Bindu Krishna and Ramani P. Nair (both from Thiruvananthapuram).
“So far only Saraswathi Kunjukrishnan had served as a female DCC president in Kollam. Women have never got a chance after her to head the DCC anywhere in the State. We are hopeful that AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi will consider two to three women candidates as DCC presidents this time”, said a prominent woman Congress leader.
It is reliably learnt that the names that have been submitted before the AICC leadership by the two factions include KPCC general secretary T. Saratchandra Prasad or Mahila Congress State president Bindu Krishna (Thiruvananthapuram), KPCC general secretary P. C. Vishnunath (Kollam), former AICC secretary Shanimol Usman or DCC vice president Koshy M. Koshy (Alappuzha), Satheesh Kochuparambil or Babu George (Pathanamthitta), Youth Congress State president Dean Kuriakose (Idukki), Kerala Cooperative Examination Board chairman Kunju Illampally or DCC general secretary Filson Mathew (Kottayam), Kochi Corporation deputy mayor T. J. Vinod (Ernakulam), T. N. Prathapan (Thrissur), V. K. Sreekantan (Palakkad), Satheeshan Pacheni (Kannur), former KPCC general secretary T. Siddique (Kozhikode), Sulthan Bathery MLA I. C. Balakrishnan (Wayanad) and KPCC secretary K. Neelakantan (Kasaragod).
