THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The much-touted reshuffle in the Congress party will take place only after the Lok Sabha election results. Earlier, the party state president Mullappally Ramachandran had said while speaking to media after the elections that the reshuffle will take place immediately. However, pressure from the group managers had led the KPCC president to change his stand and said that it will take place only after the election results are out.
Highly placed sources in the Congress party told Express that the reshuffle will happen after the election results and will take into account whether the UPA is coming to power at the centre or not. If the party comes to power at the centre then it will have to accommodate party state working presidents Kodikkunnil Suresh and K Sudhakaran in the Union government. This will alter the community equations in the party state leadership and these will have to be considered during the reshuffle.
A state-level office-bearer of the party while speaking to Express said: “If the UPA government is formed at the centre, the reshuffle will be only in July and otherwise it will have to be done by June end, anyways the reshuffle will happen only after the election results are out”.
Congress state leadership is also contemplating on new postings for block and mandalam committee presidents. There is a general feel that in the recent elections fifty per cent of the block Congress committees including presidents were ineffective in electioneering. Even though the party feels that a landslide victory for the party and UDF is on the cards, the opinion among the leadership is that it’s mainly owing to the loyal party workers and the anti-incumbency wave against both the state and central governments.
A senior party leader while speaking to Express said: “The immediate priority of the party should be the panchayat elections which will take place at the end of 2020 and can be considered as the semifinals for the 2021 assembly elections. For this the party grassroots have to work like a well-oiled machine and hence the block and mandalam revamp should take place along with the party revamp.”
High command will also take a call on the views of AICC general secretary in charge of organisation K C Venugopal as this is his home state.