THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran has told the two group leaders in the Congress that he is the key decider when it comes to party matters and they are welcome to come up with suggestions. The appointment of KPCC secretaries has been long overdue. Mullappally allegedly made his stand clear before the rest of the top brass of the party comprising Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and former chief minister Oommen Chandy, the respective group leaders of ‘I’ and ‘A’ camps. AICC organising general secretary K C Venugopal was also privy to this meeting held at Cantonment House on Wednesday.
A senior Congress MP, who is also a member of the high power Political Affairs Committee (PAC), told TNIE Mullappally was hurt after he was forced to withdraw the announcement of entrusting charges to KPCC general secretaries within hours of announcing it. “Normally, the group managers do not interfere. But this time when Mullappally came out with a list of duties for all general secretaries, there was unrest among the two group leaders, which led to the cancellation of the order,” said a senior Congress leader.
After he came to the helm of the party in September 2018, Mullappally had to wait for almost 16 months to have a committee. He feels it was the group leaders and their managers who played spoilsport. This time, he decided enough was enough and gave a piece of mind to Chennithala and Chandy. He also said he didn’t mind making slight amendments if that kept the party in good stead.
“There will be slight adjustments in the new list of office bearers being given responsibilities. Usually, vice-presidents are not given the responsibilities of districts. So, Sooranad Rajasekharan, one of the VPs who was given the charge of Thrissur, will be changed,” said a party general secretary. A whopping 70-plus secretary hopefuls have been lobbying for the post before Venugopal, ever since he was stranded in the capital city due to the lockdown. But in all likelihood, Mullappally is expected to bring down the numbers.