With a view to outmatching the emerging challenges to its traditional vote bank in Central Travancore, the Kerala Congress led by P.J. Joseph has kick-started an exercise to overhaul its organisational muscle.
The exercise, according to the party leadership, will draw to a close with the constitution of a new State committee on December 10. Based on a revised list of voters that followed a State-wide membership campaign, the party has begun elections to its ward level committees while the reorganisation of mandal committees is slated to finish by October 15.
The organisational elections in the Kerala Congress follows a merger of the Joseph group with the Kerala Congress faction led by P.C. Thomas in April last year. The exercise was announced at a time when the regional party seemed drifting towards yet another phase of infighting.
An internal circular issued by party secretary general Joy Abraham said elections to the Assembly committees would be complete by October 31 while that to the district committees was scheduled over the next month. The reorganised State committee, comprising delegates to be elected from the Assembly and district committees, will meet for the first time on December 10.
Confirming the reorganisation schedule, Mr.Abraham said the entire exercise would be carried out strictly through consensus among the members.
“The party constitution does not provide for elections between the party members. While the existing hierarchical structure will be retained, the jumbo committees on the top, especially that of State general secretaries, will be cut,” he explained.
A decision by the faction to realign with all major forces within the Kerala Congress platform ahead of the previous Assembly elections appears to have rendered the organisation somewhat an unwieldy structure. The party, which now faces the problem of plenty at the top, currently has a chairman, working chairman and an executive chairman, besides three deputy chairmen, 14 vice chairman, secretary general, chief coordinator and 68 general secretaries.
Official sources, meanwhile, also hinted at a couple of senior leaders, who have been reportedly contemplating a switch to either to the Bharatiya Janata Party or an outfit to be backed by the national party, were most likely to loose their prominence in the party structure during the revamp.
“As like in any political organisation, we too have our share of leaders who are mere opportunists. such leaders are set to get the treatment they deserve during the revamp,” told a top Kerala Congress leader.
