The Congress leadership in Kerala is set to submit the list of new office-bearers of the state unit to the All India Congress Committe for its approval.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President K Sudhakaran and Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan have held talks with the party high command, including AICC General Secretary in-charge of Kerala, Tariq Anwar, in New Delhi.
AICC general secretary in charge of organisation, K C Venugopal, is part of the discussions.
After the talks, Satheesan said the list has been finalised almost and it will be handed over to the AICC on Sunday or Monday. He said the restructuring of the KPCC has been held not on the basis of factional interests. “We have consulted all senior leaders and hope that they don't have any grievances about the list,” he said.
The Congress state unit has prepared a list of 51-member committee to replace the existing jumbo panel.
The number of PCC vice presidents is likely to be limited to four. V P Sajeendran, Bindu Krishna or Padmaja Venugopal, A V Gopinath or V S Sivakumar, and K Sivadasan Nair are among the names considered for the post. Gopinath had announced the decision to quit the party following the announcement of the new district Congress committee (DCC) presidents. Sivadasan Nair was suspended from the party after he supported the harsh remarks made by former KPCC general secretary K P Anilkumar against the state leadership over DCC appointments. Anilkumar later quit the party and joined the CPM.
Earlir, the party's Political Affairs Committee had fixed the rules for restructuring the PCC, including exempting leaders who have held party posts for a particular period of time. The factional leaders have come out against relaxing the rules for a few leaders.
After electing Sudhakaran as KPCC President and Satheesan as the Leader of Opposition, there has been a systematic move to remove the 'group culture' in Kerala unit of the Congress. The party faced severe pushback in the 2021 Kerala Assembly polls where it lost power for second consecutive term in the state.
The announcement of new District Congress Chiefs in all 14 districts of the state has led to a spate of resignations from the party, with Anil Kumar, another party general secretary G Rathikumar, KPCC secretary and Nedumangad Assembly candidate, P S Prasanth, State Agriculture Bank President and KPCC secretary, Solomon Alex resigning and joining the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Senior Kerala Congress leaders, including former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, former Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, former KPCC Presidents, V.M. Sudheeran and Mullappally Ramachandran are unhappy over the developments. V.M. Sudheeran even resigned from the party's highest policy-making body in the state, Political Affairs Committee (PAC) as well as from his AICC member's post.
