THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the new state Congress president Mullappally Ramachandran and working presidents K Sudhakaran, M I Shanavas, Kodikkunnil Suresh and the publicity committee chairman K Muraleedharan assuming office at noon on Thursday, the immediate task before them is to revamp the state Congress committee.
Mullappally has already stated he will be accommodating all the leaders and group consideration will not be there. The new president while speaking to Express said, “The party is the prime consideration and we will work for boosting the morale of the party cadre at the grassroots level. After assuming office I will tell you more on what the strategy is.”
Mullappally who is considered the soft face of the Congress with a clean image was picked up directly by A K Antony and is gearing up for a revamp of the party.It is learnt the Catholic Church is not happy with the manner in which the party office bearers were selected and the immediate challenge will be to mollify the powerful organisation.
Joseph Vazhakkan, KPCC general secretary and one of the key leaders of the ‘I’ group will be given higher responsibilities to reduce the Catholic Church’s complaint. While he is now the general secretary of the KPCC, possibilities are either he will be retained in the present posting or may be given an AICC responsibility.
Sources told Express Mullappally will be consulting Antony on important appointments and postings. There are immediate slots to be filled as P C Vishnunath who was KPCC general secretary is now AICC secretary while Lathika Subhash who was KPCC secretary is now the state president of Mahila Congress and these vacancies have to be filled.
In a similar manner, the Youth Congress state president and vice president will be accommodated in the KPCC. Shafi Parambil MLA is tipped to be the next Youth Congress president as he is close to the powerful ‘A’ group dominating the Youth Congress president post for a long time.
There is also a suggestion from the AICC president that office bearers who have completed ten years should be removed which Mullappally will have to look seriously into. Another indication is the community and caste factors will be seriously considered along with the performances for selecting the new KPCC office bearers.
There are also possibilities of the revamp of District Congress Committees based on their performances and with Thiruvananthapuram and Kasargod fairing poorly, there are possibilities of a change in guard in these districts.