Despite purported wrangling over party reorganisation, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee’s (KPCC) leadership conclave here on Wednesday drew strength from the party’s “optimistic” showing in the byelections to local self-government institutions (LSGIs) and United Democratic Front’s (UDF) “aggressive” anti-government street protests on livelihood issues, chiefly the fuel, water and power price hike, that ‘‘resonated’’ among the people.
Congress insiders dismissed disputes as familiar and rarely consequential in the party. They said the current and possibly transient dissonance revolved around nominating at least 60 KPCC office-bearers “sans consensus” among various party factions.
The KPCC leadership faced criticism that the nominations did not reflect the party’s Raipur plenary’s resolution to reserve 50% organisational positions for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, women and backward classes. (The plenary had voted to amend the constitution to make the Congress tent more expansive and inclusive ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.)
The Congress in Kerala will be among the first PCCs to reorganise after the Raipur plenary.
Some office-bearers demanded that the KPCC leadership desist from making “arbitrary nominations” for party posts, fearing it could further fuel factionalism and unravel the party’s cohesion.
The KPCC leadership also faced upbraiding for allegedly placing loyalty above organisational and political skills in choosing the new office-bearers.
Several leaders insisted that the selection of District Congress Committee office-bearers and block presidents should reflect the spirit of the Raipur plenary. It should be accommodative and based on concord.
Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan and KPCC president K. Sudhakaran promised the office-bearers that the reorganisation process would be consultative and the party would leave nobody behind.
The KPCC conclave exuded confidence that the party was on a winning trajectory. It showcased Congress’s impressionable showing in the recent LSGI bypolls, in which it had seized five sitting seats from the Left Democratic Front (LDF).
The Congress also appeared buoyed by the relatively good showing of its alliance partners in Central Kerala, particularly Christian community-dominated Pala.
The KPCC believed the United Democratic Front alliance was more robust than before and the Indian Union Muslim League had opined that a return to power was within reach in Kerala if the alliance held and proactively involved itself in livelihood issues.
