THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the succession to the KPCC president’s post still unresolved, state president Sunny Joseph has decided to convene key leadership meetings to take stock of the political situation and chalk out the party’s organisational programmes.
The political affairs committee (PAC) is likely to meet in the first week of September, followed by a meeting of KPCC office-bearers. The move comes after the Congress high command asked Joseph to continue overseeing organisational affairs for the time being, prolonging the uncertainty over the party’s leadership structure in Keralam.
His continuation is being viewed as an interim arrangement rather than a change in the high command’s plan. He is expected to handle routine organisational responsibilities until the AICC makes a final call on his successor.
Joseph has sought convenient dates from Chief Minister V D Satheesan and AICC organisational general secretary K C Venugopal for convening the PAC meeting. “We have been waiting for the AICC to announce a new president. As the decision has been delayed, the state unit has to review the current political situation and organise various programmes announced by the Congress Working Committee,” Joseph said.
The CWC has decided to organise ‘Chatron Ki Goonj’, a student outreach programme, in which Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will hold interaction with students, in 800 cities, including in Kerala. It has also instructed Congress chief ministers to prepare structural reform blueprints for education and examination systems in their respective states within a month. These subjects will also be discussed in the meeting.
Meanwhile, the delay in deciding the distribution of boards and corporations to UDF allies is causing concern within the Congress. Though discussions have begun on reaching a consensus on sharing the posts among UDF constituents, a final decision is yet to be taken. Congress leaders said discussions had gained momentum and that a consensus was likely to emerge after Onam.
The Congress is yet to finalise the heads of various academies and other institutions. The party had promised such positions ahead of the assembly elections to the IUML, Forward Bloc, Kerala Congress (Joseph) and Kerala Democratic Party (KDP). However, several UDF constituents are increasingly unhappy over the delay in announcing the promised cabinet rank posts for their leaders.
The emergence of multiple contenders for some of the most sought after posts, including chairman of the Administrative Reforms Commission, has complicated the process and delayed decisions on other cabinet rank appointments. The IUML and KC(J) have proposed veteran leaders M K Muneer and P J Joseph, respectively, for the key post.