The demand for leadership change in the civic administration of Kochi is likely to resurface in the Congress with renewed vigour as the party is busily engaged in the process of finalising its Deputy Mayor candidate.
The demand is likely to be raised at the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting scheduled to be held on November 10.
Though the agenda of the meeting is to decide on the Deputy Mayor candidate of the party, the Congress councillors opposed to Mayor Soumini Jain may use the opportunity to raise the demand for leadership change at the meeting.
Ms. Jain had recently survived a campaign for removing her from the post after a few senior leaders of the party took the position that she should not be pushed out of the seat. The Political Affairs Committee of the party held last week had entrusted KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran to take a decision on the contentious issue.
The election to the Deputy Mayor post of the Kochi Corporation will b held on November 13.
Power-sharing pact
As per the power-sharing agreement in the Congress, the Mayor post was given to the ‘A ‘faction and the Deputy Mayor post to the ‘I’ group. It was the election of the ‘I’ group nominee and Deputy Mayor T. J. Vinod to the State Assembly that forced the Congers to look for his successor.
K.R. Premakumar, the Congress councillor representing Konam Division and an ‘I’ group councillor, is the front runner for the post and the other factions are unlikely to stake claim for the chair.
A decision on the party candidate for the post was likely to be taken on November 9 at a meeting of the senior leaders in the district, said a senior party functionary.
Meanwhile, Geetha Prabhakaran, the councillor representing Nambyapuram division, reiterated her position that she would withdraw her support to the UDF in the council if it removed Ms. Jain from the post.
Ms. Prabhakaran, who threatened to withdraw the support for the front at a press conference held on Tuesday morning, remained incommunicado in the evening.
