Change opposed by AK Antony as well; Sudhakaran may continue until assembly elections

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The opposition's move to immediately remove K Sudhakaran from the post of KPCC president ahead of the upcoming local body and assembly elections has failed. The leadership change talks are temporarily stalled by the high command's block. Those supporting opposition leader VD Satheesan were of the view that they could not move forward with K Sudhakaran. The UDF had won a landslide victory in the last parliamentary elections and the subsequent by-elections, and many of the Left strongholds had collapsed. The high command is firmly hopeful that the UDF will come to power in the by-elections to be held in May next year. The credit for this victory also goes to K Sudhakaran. The move to remove Sudhakaran is being interpreted as a ploy to keep the organization and the parliamentary party under control. There is concern that the attempt to replace Sudhakaran, a member of the Ezhava community, with a Christian community leader as the president will backfire. Leaders like Ramesh Chennithala, K Muraleedharan, and Shashi Tharoor are expressing the opinion that this move will be detrimental as the backward communities are distancing themselves from the party. Senior leader AK Antony is reported to have conveyed the same sentiment to the central leadership.

High Command in Fury

The Congress high command is deeply angry that the tug-of-war between leaders over the Chief Minister's post and the leadership change talks have created more disunity in the party. The Kerala leaders have been strictly instructed to stop such unnecessary discussions and focus on unity. AICC organizational general secretary KC Venugopal also has an uncompromising stance on this matter. Keeping this goal in mind, the general secretary in charge of Kerala, Deepa Dasmunsi, held discussions with leaders at various levels in the state and submitted a report to the high command. The leadership battles were prevented by this. Meanwhile, Deepa Dasmunsi is angry that the instruction to hold a joint press conference with K Sudhakaran and VD Satheesan to convince that the party is on the path of unity has not been followed.

Controversial secret survey

The strong criticism levelled at the last Political Affairs Committee meeting against the survey conducted by VD Satheesan's followers, which said that the Congress has a chance of winning 63 seats in the next assembly elections, has not subsided. Satheesan says that no such survey was conducted. The opposition sees it as a strategy to increase the number of MLAs on Satheesan's side to secure the Chief Minister's post. The preponderance of supporters among the Congress MLAs after the 2021 assembly elections is what created the situation for making Satheesan the Leader of the Opposition instead of Chennithala.