THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Vowing to end the reign of the Pinarayi Vijayan government and bring back the UDF to power in the 2026 assembly election, Sunny Joseph took charge as the 38th state president of the Congress in Kerala. At a function organised at the Indira Bhavan on Monday in the presence of senior leaders and workers, he also assured the party workers that the new team under him would win the local body election and would function with unity, taking into consideration all the sections.
Incidentally, Sunny Joseph is the first leader from the high ranges of the state to become the KPCC president. Apart from Sunny, Adoor Prakash also took charge as UDF convenor while A P Anil Kumar, P C Vishnunath and Shafi Parambil assumed office as working presidents of the Congress.
Following the footsteps of outgoing president K Sudhakaran, who was the face of anti -CPM sentiment, Sunny who also hails from Kannur criticised the CPM for its violent political activities. “The misgovernance of the Pinarayi government must end,” he said. “In Kannur, the CPM is still following the path of political violence against Congress. However, the party that once claimed that they would form the third front, now remains only in Kerala,” he said.
Inaugurating the function, AICC general secretary in charge of the organisation, K C Venugopal has said that the new president could make any change in the state organisation in consultation with the AICC leadership. “The AICC will hold discussion with the new team on Tuesday.
They have the responsibility to bring back the Congress to power in the 2026 assembly election. The Congress has always worked as a team and the party has won elections as a team. If there is no organisation, we all will be a big zero. M M Hassan was removed from the post of UDF convenor only because the AICC decided to present a new team,” he said.
The AICC general secretary in charge of Kerala, Deepa Dasmunsi, said that it is the collective responsibility of the party leaders to fight the LDF government and communal forces. The Leader of Opposition, V D Satheesan, assured the leaders that with the new team the UDF will come back to power with more than hundred seats like in 2001.
The outgoing KPCC president K Sudhakaran said that during his time as party president, the party achieved a lot of gains and did not suffer any losses. Even in the Chelakkara byelection, although the party lost the contest, it managed to reduce the winning margin of the CPM. “I was with the workers for the last four years.
There were times when my enemies tried to put me behind bars. However, I had never made any compromises with certain people who boast of having a 56-inch chest and ‘iratta chanku’ (a strongman). I will continue to work in the coming days also and will be with the workers,” he added.
CWC members Ramesh Chennithala and Kodikkunnil Suresh, former KPCC presidents K Muralidharan, M M Hassan and working presidents Anil Kumar, Vishnunath, Shafi Parambil also spoke on the occasion.
First KPCC president from the high ranges: Antony
T’Puram: For the first time in the history of the Congress, the son of a farmer from the high ranges has become the president of the KPCC, said veteran Congress leader A K Antony. He was speaking to the media after the KPCC president Sunny Joseph, UDF convener Adoor Prakash and the three working presidents visited the leader at his residence on Monday. He also said that he has full confidence in the new team led by Sunny Joseph. If the team takes into confidence all sections of society, the Congress-led UDF will register a victory bigger than what it managed in the 2001 Assembly election.