Finally, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Mullappally Ramachandran has at least partially had his way. The final list is still large enough but the High Command has acceded to Mullappally's 'one person one post' demand. This is the first time the KPCC is coming out with a list of office-bearers after Mullappally was anointed president.
The approved list has 12 vice presidents and 34 general secretaries, none of the holding any elected post. MPs and MLAs have been kept out of the list as recommended by Mullappally. However, there are just three women in the list: K C Rosakutty and Padmaja Venugopal are vice presidents while D Sona is a general secretary.
In all, there are 47 names, including the treasurer K K Kochumuhammed. The list that has now been dumped had 125 names; six working presidents, 13 vice presidents, 36 general secretaries and 70 secretaries.
If the new list looks considerably leaner it is because the secretaries have not yet been named. An official release issued by Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said that secretaries would be announced before February 10. Once those names are declared, the list is likely to be as whopping as the original one. The delay in announcing the secretaries is also a sign that the two prominent groups – A and I - are still fighting hard to get their men into the list.
What helped the High Command to rework the obese list was the reformatory rebellion staged by young Congress leaders like V D Satheesan MLA, and T N Prathapan MP. Both were included as 'working presidents' in the earlier list and both said they did not want to be in the list. They even said the sharing of spoils in such a manner had made the Congress a laughing stock.
However, MPs Kodikunnil Suresh and K Sudhakaran will continue as working presidents. There will be no more additions to the working presidents. The names of all MLAs and MPs who were considered for the vice president and general secretary posts earlier like V S Sivakumar, Adoor Prakash and A P Anil Kumar, too, have been struck out.
The post of working president was inserted above the vice president to accommodate group interests right when Mullappally was made KPCC president in September 2018. Kodikkunnil Suresh, K Sudhakaran and M I Shanavas were the first KPCC working presidents.
A post of working president was lying vacant with the death of Shanavas on November 21, 2018. The jumbo list prepared by the KPCC against the wishes of Mullappally had six working presidents.
Sources said the High Command had specifically told group leaders Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala that the party would look as if it was too distracted by personal agendas at a time when the CPM was putting up a spirited fight against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Nonetheless, the list has taken care to balance both I and A group requirements. A notable absentee is K V Thomas who had managed to get himself nominated as one of the six working presidents. Now, he is neither an elected member not a party office-bearer. This is the first time Thomas is facing such an embarrassment.
