The anointment of Rahul Gandhi is expected to be followed by a shakeup in the state units as well.Senior Congress leaders in Delhi thought the list of delegates to the party’s plenary convention was low on women’s participation. All India Congress Committee general secretary Mukul Wasnik raised this concern to a leader from Kerala and the response was hilarious.
“The list has all the known women leaders in Kerala. If you need more of them, we will have to pick from the second rung. Or else we will have to invite the wives of the leaders,” he told the bachelor general secretary.
Jokes apart, the central leadership went ahead and tweaked the list, booting out veterans including P P Thankachan (who is the convener of the party-led United Democratic Front in Kerala), C V Padmarajan, Thennala Balakrishna Pillai (both former party bosses in the state), K Sankaranarayanan, M M Jacob and Vakkom Purushothaman (all former governors). Aryadan Muhammed and V S Vijayaraghavan would have been left in the cold too, if the state leadership had not lobbied hard for them.
The Congress high command is relentlessly pursuing the generational switch in the party. The iron grip of the central leadership was evident in the formation of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee and the selection of leaders to the all-India committee. The central committee indeed asked the state leadership for its choices but its brief was clear.
The plenary convention that started last week, however, have dashed all hopes for autonomy of the state units. The state leaders have to wait to be heard in the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.
Interestingly, this consolidation comes at a time when the party’s Kerala unit acts as a face-saver. When the party’s tally in the Lok Sabha was dwindled to 44 in 2014, eight of them were from Kerala, second only to Karnataka’s nine.
Including Congress allies, Kerala sent 12 MPs to the Congress camp in a house dominated by the BJP and its allies. The UDF kept up the good work by retaining the Malappuram Lok Sabha seat in a by-election.
Kerala is one of the few states where the Congress expects to perform in the next general election. The Congress unit in the state could reasonably expect good representation in the party’s national leadership to be formed after the plenary convention. Kerala never had so much bargaining power in the party.
A K Antony is almost sure to remain as a member of the Congress Working Committee. So is party national general secretary K C Venugopal. RumoUr is rife that Antony could even be elevated to the post of party vice president to work by the side of the young president, Rahul Gandhi.
The big question is whether former chief minister Oommen Chandy will give company to Antony in the working committee. The veteran has kept away from assuming any responsibility in Kerala after the party’s rout in the assembly election.
Mullappally Ramachandran may be rewarded for the commendable work he did related to the party’s organisational election in Kerala. Shashi Tharoor, P C Chacko and K V Thomas are also expected to be promoted within the party.
After the plenary
The anointment of Rahul Gandhi is expected to be followed by a shakeup in the state units as well. M M Hassan is nearing his first anniversary as the Congress chief in Kerala on March 27. Will he be allowed to continue? No one knows. Wasnik consulted the top leaders from the state about their choice for Hassan’s successor. Many of the leaders are in favour of Hassan continuing at least until the general election. If there has to be a change of guard, it has to be now, they feel.
Hassan’s detractors allege that his proposed road show is a ploy to prolong his term at the top. He has a ready response though. The party unit’s coffers are almost empty and the road show is a form of fundraising too.
When Hassan took over as the KPCC chief, the party’s account was empty in Kerala. He had to borrow about Rs 10 lakh for three months to pay the staff and for other general purposes, until the KPCC membership drive raised about Rs 80 lakh.
The KPCC has asked each booth committee to raise Rs 50,000 for the upcoming roadshow.
Road to Chengannur
The Congress leadership in the state wishes no one less than Rahul Gandhi to campaign for the party candidate in Chengannur. Another defeat in the assembly constituency could mar the party’s morale ahead of the next general election, they reason.
If the Congress could not win a seat in Kerala, it could hardly expect to win elsewhere in the country.
Congress leaders are hopeful of wresting the Chengannur seat. Its candidate D Vijayakumar could block the flow of traditionally Congress Hindu votes to the BJP.
Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and Joseph Vazhakkan has been entrusted by the party to oversee the by-election campaign in Chengannur. Senior leaders including opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, Chandy and Hassan are expected to camp in Chengannur ahead of the by-poll.
They hope to rope in more national campaigners as the spirit of the plenary lasts.
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