Before one chair is filled, lobbying begins in Kerala for new KPCC chief’s post
Thiruvananthapuram, May 11 (IANS) Even before the suspense over Kerala’s next Chief Minister comes to an end, the Congress party has already opened another front, this time for the powerful post of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President.
If the race for the Chief Minister’s chair has resembled a political thriller over the past week, the emerging contest for the party presidency is beginning to look like the sequel nobody in the Congress wanted to delay.
With indications growing stronger that KPCC president Sunny Joseph is likely to enter the new UDF Cabinet, the party’s organisational post is set to fall vacant.
And even before the ink dries on the Chief Ministerial announcement, aspirants have already begun positioning themselves in Delhi corridors and Kerala power centres.
At the centre of the early lobbying is veteran MP Kodikunnil Suresh, whose recent meeting with Congress President Mallikarjuna Kharge has triggered intense speculation.
Officially, it may have been described as a routine political meeting. Unofficially, few in the Congress believe anything in Delhi is ‘routine’ when a top organisational post is about to open up.
Alongside Kodikunnil, the names of Benny Behanan, Anto Antony and Shafi Parambil (all are Lok Sabha members) are also doing the rounds.
Each name comes with its own social equations, factional arithmetic and loyal support camps.
The calculations now involve not just seniority and organisational ability, but caste balance, minority representation, youth appeal and factional peacekeeping.
For the high command, the challenge is turning into a delicate balancing act.
If the Chief Minister’s post goes to one community or faction, the KPCC presidency may have to compensate another.
In Kerala Congress politics, one chair rarely travels alone, it usually drags three more chairs and half a dozen equations behind it.
Incidentally in 2001 the state capital witnessed the swearing in ceremony of A.K. Antony as the new chief minister and minutes later, the new state party president K. Muraleedharan took over by replacing veteran Congress leader Thennala Balakrishna Pillai as part of the power sharing arrangement between Antony and Karunakaran.
What is adding to the unease within the party is the growing perception that the Congress, despite returning to power, is struggling to project a sense of stability.
Workers who celebrated the UDF victory only days ago are now watching leaders sprint between Kerala House, airport lounges and Delhi drawing rooms in pursuit of the next available chair.
For now, the Congress high command faces the unenviable task of solving two puzzles at once, deciding who governs Kerala, and equally importantly, deciding who controls the party machinery after the victory drums fade.
–IANS
sg/rad
