Pressure on Mullappally to quit, AICC sends feelers
KOCHI: The writing on the wall is clear for KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran — to exit gracefully now or wait till the party leadership asks him to step down. AICC sources told TNIE that they expected Mullappally, who led the party to one of its worst defeats in the assembly polls, to submit his resignation immediately, as was done by his Assam counterpart.
Assam Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ripun Bora resigned from his post on Sunday evening itself though the Congress fared much better in the northeastern state.“Mullappally Ramachandran’s resignation is expected by the high command and it has informally communicated to him to step down. In two days, if there is no resignation, official routes will be explored. It is left to him to exit gracefully. The Assam PCC president took the moral responsibility for the defeat and resigned. The same was expected of Mullappally,” said a party source.
“We thought he would send his resignation immediately after the results came out. But that did not happen,” the source said.However, senior local leaders said a final decision on the future course of action will be taken only at the KPCC's political affairs committee meeting, scheduled for Friday. “It won't do any good for the party if immediate decisions are made, without any discussions,” said a senior leader.
But, not everyone holds the same view. Veteran Congress leader Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan fired the first salvo by proposing K Sudhakaran’s name as the next KPCC chief. Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden posted on his Facebook page: “Why do we still need a sleeping president?” Following his post, several Congress workers came up with their comments against Mullappally, demanding a change of guard.
A newly-elected MLA told TNIE that a consensus was building among the Congress trio of Ramesh Chennithala, Oommen Chandy and Mullappally to maintain the status quo for the time being. But sources in the central leadership said the local leaders are playing a waiting game as they are facing “irrelevance” and hence they are “protecting each other.”The names of Sudhakaran and K Muraleedharan are doing the rounds as replacement for Mullapally. Though the party won 19 of 20 seats in the Lok Sabha polls under Mullappally, it was a downhill journey for him since then, losing the local body elections last year and the assembly polls now.
Satheesan to be Oppn leader?
Sources said Thiruvanchoor floated Sudhakaran’s name for the next KPCC chief as a strategy to gain the Kannur strongman’s support for himself to be made the leader of opposition in the assembly. But V D Satheesan’s name is gaining momentum among younger leaders, given his performance as a legislator, his strong secular image and the age factor. Sections of the local leadership are strongly against such a move as it would mean projecting him as the next chief ministerial candidate.