KOTTAYAM: The election of the Kerala Congress (M) chairman and other office-bearers will be held tomorrow at the party's conference in Kottayam.

Although there is a campaign that anyone can contest for the post of chairman, Jose K Mani's position will not change. The major change is the reduction in the number of state secretaries from 45 to 15. With the reduction in the number of office-bearers at the district, mandal and ward levels, the leadership is forced to include the quarreling leaders and those who lost at the disrict-level in the state-level committees. A 130-member Party Secretariat, 30-member High Power Committee and 100-member Steering Committee will be formed. With this, the cadre character has disappeared at the state level. Although some district presidents had to be elected through the contest, the situation is under the complete control of Jose K Mani. All those who won are loyal to Jose. An attempt to form a group in the party under the leadership of an MLA and a former MLA from Kottayam proved to be a failure.

Although the Kerala Congress (M) was given eight corporation chairmanships and eighteen board memberships by the Left Front, it did not get the major corporations it had when it was in the UDF. There is also a strong complaint that the leadership neglected senior members of the party and gave positions to those who came from other parties. The fact that the party was not able to correct the state government could on issues like buffer zone, rubber price fall and Vizhinjam strike could lead to a heated discussion in the conference.