5 days ago
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With powerfulness backmost successful its hands and a large organisational overhaul connected the horizon, Kottayam is emerging arsenic an aboriginal battleground for the Congress, with aggravated lobbying nether mode for the station of District Congress Committee (DCC) president.
A alteration of defender astatine the Kottayam DCC has go inevitable with incumbent president Nattakom Suresh being elected to the Assembly from Ettumanur. With the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) present backmost successful power, the presumption has assumed added significance. According to enactment sources, astir fractional a twelve leaders are actively positioning themselves for the post.
Kottayam has traditionally been considered an A radical stronghold, with the territory organisation remaining firmly nether the power of the faction led by the precocious Oommen Chandy. The station of DCC president, meanwhile, had agelong remained mostly the sphere of leaders from the Christian community. The tenures of M.P. Govindan Nair and Nattakom Suresh were among the uncommon exceptions to this convention.
Major realignment
However, Mr. Chandy’s passing triggered a large realignment wrong the party. Bereft of a unifying leader, galore erstwhile A radical leaders gradually gravitated towards the campy led by K.C. Venugopal. According to a elder leader, this diminished power of the A radical became evident during the enactment of the caller ministry, erstwhile it failed to unafraid a berth for Chandy Oommen contempt sustained efforts by his supporters. At the aforesaid time, leaders having affinity to Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala person besides entered the fray.
Among the salient names doing the rounds are Philson Mathews, Biju Punnathanam, Philip Joseph, G. Gopakumar, Siby Chenappady and Eugene Thomas. While Mr. Mathews is considered adjacent to Mr. Satheesan, Mr. Joseph, the territory president of INTUC, is regarded arsenic a trusted confidant of Mr. Chennithala. Party sources, however, bash not regularisation retired the emergence of a statement campaigner oregon adjacent a astonishment contender arsenic the enactment process gathers momentum.
According to elder Congress leaders, nary authoritative connection regarding the assignment of caller DCC presidents has been received truthful far. “The enactment is apt to participate into the process of electing a caller KPCC president lone aft presumption of the State Budget by the caller government,” said a Congress leader.
Community and caste equations are expected to play a important relation successful the last decision. With the territory panchayat president already belonging to the Christian community, a conception wrong the enactment is expecting the DCC presidency beryllium entrusted to a person from the Hindu community. The stance of Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, the elder astir Congress person successful the district, is besides deemed significant.
Meanwhile, indications are that the Congress enactment whitethorn follow the Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan (SSA), an organisational restructuring inaugural launched by the All India Congress Committee (AICC), for selecting DCC presidents successful Kerala. As portion of the exercise, cardinal observers are expected to sojourn each territory and interact with enactment workers crossed factional and organisational lines.
Congress leaders constituent retired that DCC presidents person already been appointed nether the SSA model successful 14 States, covering astir 525 territory units, portion the process is nether mode successful six different States. A conception of Kerala leaders, however, remains sceptical astir the model’s applicable applicability successful the State, arguing that DCC presidents person traditionally been selected from panels recommended by the KPCC leadership.
