Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress High Command has started efforts to stem the rot in its Kerala unit following a dismal performance in the local body elections.
Tariq Anwar, AICC in-charge of the state unit, will arrive two days after Christmas to carry out certain corrective measures, Manorama News reported.
Though the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee will remain untouched for now, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Palakkad District Congress Committees will face action.
There has been a clamour for a leadership change in the state unit of the Congress following the poll debacle. Some allies too had aired similar views and State Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had even mocked the KPCC saying the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) dictates the Congress agenda.
So a leadership change at this juncture – read removal of Mullappally Ramachandran as KPCC chief – would tantamount to admitting Pinaray's charge and hence is ruled out.
'Do not criticise publicly'
Meanwhile, Tariq Anwar on Saturday urged party leaders criticising the state party leadership to desist from airing their differences publicly.
"I earnestly hope that our leaders will realise that by trading charges against each other, they are giving the strength to the opponents. The need of the houris to fight the opposition," he said in a statement.
Anwar urged all congress leaders in the state to desist from airing their differences publicly and instead take up their grievances at the party forum.
Their complaint will be looked into and resolved, he said.
Soon after the local body poll results were out on December16, rumblings had begun in the congress with some state leaders openly criticising KPCC president Mullapally Ramachandran for the party's poor show.
Posters had appeared in front of the KPCC office here seeking to dissolve the district congress committee.
Mullapally takes full responsibility
Congress sympathisers in Kozhikode had also put up boards criticising the party's state leadership.
Ramachandran had on Thursday taken full responsibility for the party's lacklustre performance in the local body polls.
"My activities since I took charge as KPCC chief is an open book, he said, adding success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan," he said.
Many senior leaders, including former Union minister P J Kurien and three Lok Sabha MPs K Muraleedharan, K Sudhakaran and Rajmohan Unnithan had attacked Ramachandran, saying the organisational set-up of the congress party was weak.
Flex boards had appeared on Saturday in front of the KPCC office here and some other places in the city in favour of K Sudhakaran, for the state KPCC president's post.
Posters had also appeared against Kollam DCC president, Bindu Krishna, alleging that she was a BJP agent and had worked of the saffron party in the polls.
