'Congress is a jumbo party': Sunny Joseph on simmering discontent over party revamp in Kerala

HOURS after the Congress announced a new committee for its Kerala unit — with 13 Vice Presidents and 58 General Secretaries — voices of dissent surfaced on Friday, which were dismissed by its state chief, calling the party a ‘jumbo’.

Six additional members were also included in the Political Affairs Committee as part of the reorganisation.

The criticism surfaced from people who were left out and from those whose close aides failed to make it to the revamped committee.

But a smiling KPCC president, Sunny Joseph, dismissed the criticism, saying, “Look, the Congress party is jumbo and hence it’s only natural that it will be reflected when a revamp takes place. Moreover, the revamp is not yet over as the list of secretaries will soon be there.”

Incidentally, over the years, the party in Kerala has been closely divided under various faction leaders. The first leader to express his displeasure over the latest revamp is former party president K. Muraleedharan, son of K. Karunakaran, as his close aides failed to make it to the list.

Women’s leader Shama Mohamed, after the list was released, took to social media with a sarcastic post questioning whether “merit” had been a criterion for the appointments.

Supporters of Chandy Oommen, son of two-time former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, are also unhappy as he did not get a post, but Joseph said, “Chandy Oommen is a promising leader.” His father, Chandy, often used to say that despite his long innings in the party when he held numerous top posts, he never occupied a plum post in the party organisation.

Joseph is hopeful that when the next list comes, he will be able to calm the present round of restlessness as none in the party at the moment wants the unrest to catch fire as two crucial elections are nearing.