THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An overhaul from top to bottom is what the Congress leadership plans for reviving the party which faced a humiliating defeat in the assembly polls. The overhaul will ensure all jumbo committees of the district Congress committees and Pradesh Congress Committee are replaced with slimmer and more professional formations.
The restructuring of the organisation will be held after proper guidelines are prepared at the two-day Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting scheduled for May 18 and 19. Friday’s daylong PAC meeting that was attended by senior leaders including Oommen Chandy, Ramesh Chennithala and Mullappally Ramachandran and joined by AICC general secretary Tariq Anwar virtually decided against any knee-jerk reaction as the situation is very serious and needs careful handling.
A decision on whether there will be any change at the helm of state leadership and Congress parliamentary party will be taken by national leadership later. With AICC set to elect the party’s new national president and Congress Working Committee next month, the change of guard in state may be delayed to be timed along with that.
Chandy owns up responsibility for Cong’s dismal failure in elections
It is learnt that except for veteran leader P J Kurien, no other member of the PAC attacked the leadership of party state president Mullappally Ramachandran and Ramesh Chennithala during the meeting. Kurien said factionalism is the bane of the state Congress and alleged there was no collective decision making in the party.
At the meeting, former chief minister Oommen Chandy owned up the responsibility for the dismal failure in the elections as the chairman of the 10-member Election Management and Strategy Committee. Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala maintained that he is ready to accept whatever decision the high command takes. The PAC meeting concluded that a weak party machinery, organisational lapses, shortage of funds and flaws in election preparations and campaigning are the major reasons that led to the defeat.
Tariq Anwar, who attended the meeting online from New Delhi, zeroed in on three reasons for the poll setback — overconfidence, groupism and organisational weakness. He has promised the party workers of taking up short and long-term remedial measures to strengthen the party. The central Congress observers, Mallikarjun Kharge and V Vaithilingam, will be attending the PAC meeting on May 18 and 19. The Congress parliamentary party meeting will also be held to choose the new opposition leader.