THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: State Congress president Mullappally Ramachandran has said a party commission will be constituted to study the defeat of Shanimol Usman from Alappuzha constituency. He was speaking to media persons at the party headquarters, Indira Bhawan, after the party state executive meeting on Tuesday.
Mullappally said there was a slight carelessness on the part of the party in the defeat and that he owes responsibility for that carelessness. The state Congress chief called upon Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to resign as the LDF has lost the people’s mandate to continue in power.
He said while the UDF had the lead in 123 Assembly segments in the general elections, the LDF had the lead only in 16 segments while the BJP led in 1. The senior Congress leader said the party state committee has passed two resolutions, one thanking the people of the state for giving a landslide victory for the Congress and UDF candidates and the second one for the continuation of Rahul Gandhi as AICC president.
He said the Congress party will continue its struggle against the fascist policies carried out by the BJP Government under Narendra Modi. He said the minority communities of the state voted wholeheartedly in favour of the UDF and that the majority community also voted in large numbers for the front owing to the position it had taken in the Sabarimala issue.
Mullappally repeated the Opposition leader’s statement that the UDF, if voted to power, will bring a legislation in the Sabarimala issue preventing the entry of women in the age group of 10 to 50. He said this can be included in the concurrent list. The state Congress chief said the UDF and the Congress have only one word and that if the front has committed something to the people of the state, that commitment will be fulfilled.
He lambasted the state government move to levy flood CESS and said the party will conduct dharna’s across the state in front of all taluk offices on May 30 in protest against this. Mullappally said this is cruelty on the people of the state who have suffered enough. He said there was no reason for the people to bear the burden of the ‘man-made flood’.
The senior leader said the candidature of P Jayarajan who was arraigned in two murder cases has changed the narrative of politics in the state. He said his candidature has brought the politics of murder to the centre stage in the elections.
Mullappally said the state Congress is humbled by the mandate of the people and said this is why he has said it is a ‘frightening mandate’.
Political Affairs body for party overhaul
T’Puram: The Congress Political Affairs Committee (PAC) on Tuesday decided to immediately revamp the party’s state administration. Party leaders are of the opinion a jumbo committee is redundant and attributed the stellar performance at LS polls to the minority and majority consolidation. KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran has told the committee that Shanimol had expressed her concerns on some undercurrents in Alappuzha had led to her defeat. She had abstained from the PAC in protest. A senior party leader told Express: “The mood of the PAC was euphoric but the defeat at the national level held the party back from celebrating this massive victory. The names of Sachin Pilot as president and Jyotiraditya Scindia as working president are doing rounds in Delhi AICC circles as possible replacement to Rahul Gandhi who is insistent on his resignation as party president.”