Pressure on Oommen Chandy to accept KPCC leadership

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There is growing pressure on former chief minister Oommen Chandy to contest for the post of KPCC president. After the Malappuram by-election, acting PCC president M.M. Hassan openly made this demand. However, Mr Chandy insists on not holding any post because he had lost the electoral mandate and he deems it as a reprisal. After Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala's meeting with AICC leadership, now it is the turn of Mr Chandy and former KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran to hold talks with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and his team.

With organisational elections happening during Sept. 16 – Oct. 15, ‘A’ group leaders are keen on seeing Mr Chandy head the party. It was Mr Chandy who had demanded for organisational elections from day one ever since he felt he was sidelined by the former PCC president V.M. Sudheeran on the appointment of 14 DCC presidents. This paved the way for a cold war between Mr Chandy and Mr Sudheeran with the former staying away from Indira Bhavan for months. Now, the ‘A’ group is hoping that Mr Chandy will yield to their pressure.

“At the recent Malap-puram byelection, P.K. Kunhalikutty publicly admitted that it was difficult to beat Mr Chandy’s mass public support. At one stage, Mr Kunhalikutty wondered who the candidate in Malappuram was. So this shows that if the Congress has to bounce back to power, a leader of Mr Chandy’s stature has to be at the helm of the party”, said a top ‘A’ group leader. The ‘A’ camp feels that AICC leadership will urge the KPCC to suggest Mr Chandy’s name after reaching a consensus in the party. The reason the ‘A’ camp cite is that Opposition Leader Ramesh Chenn-ithala will feel threatened if Mr Chandy is allowed to continue being “outside” without holding any posts in the party.

“Chennithala’s ‘I’ group is getting deteriorated day by day. He is not holding much control over his men as K. Muraleedharan MLA and former Kannur MP K. Sudhakaran had fielded their own candidates in the KSU elections who went on to win the elections. Also Mr Chennithala is apprehensive of the strides KPCC vice-president and MLA V. D. Satheesan is making,” added the’A’ group leader. Meanwhile, KPCC leadership has called for a meeting of DCC presidents, high power political affairs committee meeting and also the leadership meeting on Wednesday at Indira Bhavan.