THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Congress group equations in Thiruvananthapuram have gone haywire with old warhorses like M A Vahid, N Sakthan and Varkala Kahar showing allegiance to the new state leadership. However, the equations at the block and mandalam committee-level remain intact as leaders still favour their respective group leaders, Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala.
A three-time legislator from Kazhakoottam, Vaheed had to be content with the third place in the 2016 assembly elections behind the BJP. Varkala Kahar, 70, also saw his 15-year tenure as a legislator end in 2016. Former Speaker Sakthan had been a legislator for four terms from Kovalam, Nemom and Kattakada.
Sakthan, who had the backing of Nadar community, tasted defeat in the 2016 assembly elections from Kattakada. The trio has been staunch ‘A’ group leaders. While Sakthan was made the vice-president, Varkala Kahar managed to get a berth in the state executive committee under the new party setup led by K Sudhakaran. Out of 14 assembly constituencies in Thiruvananthapuram, the Congress had managed to win only the Kovalam seat which saw M Vincent, another Oommen Chandy loyalist, retaining his seat.
“Palode Ravi managed to get the DCC chief post after his popularity as an excellent party organiser. He also belonged to the Oommen Chandy camp and has since cozied up to national general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, which helped him to get the key post of DCC chief. While all these seniors are well into their seventies and have since severed ties with their old camp, the group leaders are unruffled. They are confident of the grassroots’ support,” said a senior Congress leader.
Already, another senior leader from Thiruvananthapuram, V S Sivakumar had ended his long- term association with ‘I’ group led by Chennithala. Now, a major challenge before the state leadership, which has got the backing of bigwig Venugopal, is to poach block and mandalam-level leaders.