THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Giving in to persuasion by key party leaders in Kerala and pressure from K Sudhakaran himself, the Congress national leadership has decided to reinstate the Kannur leader as the KPCC president. Sudhakaran will re-assume the post at Indira Bhavan at 11am on Wednesday.
It is learnt that a section of senior leaders backing Sudhakaran had conveyed to Delhi that dilly-dallying on Sudhakaran’s return at the party’s helm will send a wrong message on social balancing.
Following this, Deepa Das Munshi, AICC general secretary in-charge of Kerala, softened her stand and gave Sudhakaran the green signal during a telephone conversation on Tuesday.
“Sudhakaran was forced to defend his Kannur Lok Sabha seat as there was no other credible Thiyya leader to take on CPM. The other Ezhava community member in the fray is Attingal candidate Adoor Prakash. The High Command realised it will end up further antagonising the Ezhava community which is already under-represented in the Congress,” said a leader close to Sudhakaran.
Sudhakaran keen on making grand return to Indira Bhavan
Talking to reporters in Angamaly later, a jovial Sudhakaran confirmed that he will resume his duties at Indira Bhavan on Wednesday. It’s learnt Sudhakaran had decided to turn his return into a gala event by inviting all 26 general secretaries, working presidents and vice-presidents. As per plan, a meeting of party office-bearers was to follow.
Meanwhile, post June 4, after the Lok Sabha results are out, the AICC is expected to go for a major organisational overhaul, even if UDF sweeps the polls. Amid the uncertainty surrounding his return as party head, there were campaigns both in his favour and against him. A section of leaders wanted a new president to lead Congress at the time of the local body polls.
Meanwhile, a peeved Sudhakaran was keen on getting an honourable exit, and wanted to take credit for UDF’s performance in the LS polls. Many senior Congress leaders had alerted the High Command that it was targeting Sudhakaran at a time when communal balancing was at stake. While AICC general secretary K C Venugopal was in Sudhakaran’s favour and had promised to address the issue after the third phase of the elections, Deepa wanted Sudhakaran to return only after the poll outcome was known.
During her phone call with Sudhakaran on Tuesday though, Deepa was keen to know whether he wished to have a swearing-in ceremony at Indira Bhavan, toeing Sudhakaran’s line. News of Sudhakaran’s return has come as a setback to leaders in his opposing camp. In the days to come, power equations in the state Congress are expected to see changes.