Muraleedharan, Mullappally front-runners to head Congress in Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram, July 7: With the new chief of the Congress' Kerala unit set to be named soon, sources in the know of things say veteran leader K. Karunakaran's son K. Muraleedharan and senior leader Mullappally Ramachandran are among the front-runners.
"These two names (Muraleedharan and Ramachandran) have been zeroed in on and the announcement could well be made very soon.
"Today a practice that has met with some success is the appointment of a President and a Working President in states. May be these two leaders could well be nominated for these two posts," a senior party leader who did not want to be identified told IANS on Saturday.
After V.M. Sudheeran quit as President in a jiffy last year, M.M. Hassan was first asked to officiate and then was given the post till the party high command zeroed in on a suitable candidate.
The Congress' Kerala unit was for several decades deeply divided between Karunakaran and former Defence Minister A.K. Antony and an unwritten practice was that when Karunakaran was Chief Minister, the post of the state chief was given to the Antony faction and vice versa.
In 2001, when Antony took over as Chief Minister, Thennala Balakrishna Pillai moved out to accommodate Muraleedharan as the party president.
But after 2004, things changed with Oommen Chandy taking over from Antony and Ramesh Chennithala becoming the president and since then it was these two leaders who head the two major factions in the party.
Things, however, changed when the party high command surprised everyone by nominating Sudheeran as the new president in 2014, much to the displeasure of the two factions. Many in the party believed this was a wrong move and the relation between Sudheeran and Chandy worsened and is also held to be a cause in the party's defeat in the 2016 assembly polls.
After Rahul Gandhi took over as Congress President, he tried to end the power of group leaders here, but his moves met strong resistance as both Chandy and Chennithala strongly opposed it.
According to a senior party leader, Gandhi appears to have been convinced by these two state leaders that yet another experiment could be disastrous for the party.
Of the present probables, while Muraleedharan is acceptable to both Chandy and Chennithala and also enjoys a sizeable following, Ramachandran has the full blessings of the party high command, even though he does not enjoy much of a support either among the leadership of the party here, nor the cadres.
"Well, in our party you never know, just like Sudheeran who was in political wilderness was made the party chief in 2014, there could be a dark horse too and one such leader is K. Sudhakaran," said the senior leader.
He however warned any wrong move would impact the party's future in the state.
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Integrity of electoral process severely compromised, Cong to soon launch movement: CWC
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress Working Committee met here on Friday and adopted a resolution alleging the integrity of the entire electoral process was being severely compromised against which the party would soon launch a movement.
In the resolution of the top body of the Congress, the party said free and fair elections is a Constitutional mandate that was being called into "serious question by the partisan functioning of the Election Commission".
The CWC, which met amid the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament, said the session has been a washout so far because of the Narendra Modi government's "stubborn refusal" to have an immediate discussion on three pressing national issues -- "the recent revelations regarding corruption by a business group, and the violence in Manipur and Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal".
Asked why the Congress Working Committee (CWC) resolution does not name the business group, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, "The answer is the Adani group".
"The CWC believes the integrity of the entire electoral process is being severely compromised. Free and fair elections is a Constitutional mandate that is being called into serious question by the partisan functioning of the Election Commission.
"Increasing sections of society are becoming frustrated and deeply apprehensive. The Congress will take these up these public concerns as a national movement," the resolution stated.
Addressing a joint press conference along with Ramesh and Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera, party general secretary, organisation, K C Venugopal said the party discussed the political situation in the country for four-and-half hours and adopted the resolution.
He said the CWC has decided to constitute internal committees to look into electoral performance and organisational matters.
About the Assembly polls results in Maharashtra, Venugopal said the electoral outcome in the state was "beyond normal understanding and it appears to be a clear case of targeted manipulation".
