KPCC cracks whip on Alappuzha

Thiruvananthapuram: The KPCC has cracked down on four block committees in Alappuzha for the defeat of Congress candidate Shanimol Usman in the Lok Sabha elections. The party on Wednesday dissolved the four block committees of Cherthala, Vayalar, Kayamkulam North and Kayamkulam South for organisational lapses. This was stated by KPCC president Mullapally Ramachandran here. The action comes a day after the sub-committee led by former Congress MP K. V. Thomas submitted its report on the poll reverses.

The  report does not mention the alleged role of senior AICC leaders in the defeat.

This is for the first time that the KPCC has made public a sub-committee report. Its other members were KPCC general secretary K. P. Kunjikannan and AICC secretary P. C. Vishnunath.

The previous KPCC chiefs had not taken any action on the reports of sub-committees led by Thennala Balakrishnan Pillai, Vakkom Purushothaman and M. M. Hassan on the poll setbacks. Former Janata Dal (United) leader M. P. Veerendra Kumar had flayed the UDF for going soft on erring leaders in Palakkad during the previous Lok Sabha elections.

Mullapally said that new block committees will be appointed within two weeks.

"This is a corrective step against the four block committees that did not anticipate the organisational lapses in Alappuzha," he said.

The sub-committee members have apprised AICC general secretary Oommen Chandy and Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala as well as Mullapally on the communication gap between Shanimol Usman and local leadership that led to her defeat. Alappuzha DCC president M. Liju and S. Sarath, former candidates from Kayamkulam and Cherthala Assembly seats respectively, had raised complaints against the same booth committees when they were defeated in the 2016 elections. Mullapally's action has been welcomed by the rank and file of the party.