While Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is struggling to get his Cabinet reshuffle off the ground, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president V.M. Sudheeran has made it clear that he is determined to go ahead with a revamp of the party organisation ahead of the local body elections next year.
If he does have his way, the revamp process will begin on August 10 and conclude on August 31. The KPCC has prepared a plan of action that will witness the constitution of 21,458 booth committees on a single day — August 10 — as part of the first phase of the revamp process.
This will be followed by another complicated second phase that will witness the overhaul of the mandalam, block, and district committees.
The constitution of block committees will be over by August 20, followed by the constitution of the District Congress Committees. At present, the three-tier committees at the lower levels have only presidents, as the party leadership could not complete the process it had started earlier. This has necessitated the election of committee members, according to KPCC vice president M.M. Hassan.
In the past, cabinet reshuffles, government formation, and local body election went hand in hand with the organisational revamp. The entire process was used for the political purpose of accommodating various groups and interests, not to mention drafting of leaders, who were unsuccessful in getting a slot in democratic institutions, for party work.
This time, the party leadership has preferred not to travel this route, mainly for two reasons.
First, there is urgency in constituting the committees from the booth-level upwards as they need to be energised ahead of the local body elections.
Secondly, Mr. Sudheeran appears to be keen on keeping his promise of fair play and giving a chance for those deserving workers.
Mr. Sudheeran’s moves are interpreted as attempts to dismantle the factional loyalties on which the lower party machinery has been revolving.
This fact alone makes the Congress revamp process a keen affair, according to party sources.
