It’s win-win for Antony in KPCC revamp

Pillai, who was the KPCC chief in the last Assembly elections in 2001, was ousted to ‘‘accommodate’’ K. Muraleedharan as part of a compromise formula for making Antony chief minister, a post that Karunakaran has always sought.

The Kerala organisational revamp, announced today, is said to be the first among state-level changes that the AICC will take up in the coming months.

Next in line is said to the reorganisation of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee which is also torn apart due to infighting, which could damage the party’s electoral prospects.

The AICC has been blaming, in part, the antagonistic relationship between the party unit and the state government for the Lok Sabha debacle. The party lost all 17 seats that it contested in the state.

Since Antony became CM, the KPCC president’s post has always been with the Karunakaran camp. By bringing in Pillai, the AICC seems to be hoping to ease this friction which might have cost the party crucial seats in the general elections.

Before the official announcement of the new KPCC today, Antony had met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi twice to finalise the names for the new set-up. Among others in the fray for presidentship were Ramesh Chennithala, a senior party leader. But he was dropped as leaders felt he could create an alternate centre of power in the state.

On the other hand, the Karunakaran camp was keen on the continuation of present KPCC chief P.P. Thankachan.

He had moved in to occupy the chair of Muraleedharan after the latter accepted a ministerial berth in Antony’s Cabinet as part of yet another compromise package of the AICC with Karunakaran.

Party sources say ultimately, the choice of KPCC chief was left to the Chief Minister.

Pillai was also nominated for Rajya Sabha last year amid stiff dissent from the Karunakaran camp. Former MP A.C. Jose has been appointed vice-president of the KPCC.

Jose is equidistant from both camps in the state unit.

The third-most important position in the KPCC, the treasurer, went to C.N. Balakrishnan who had defected to the Antony camp in October after Karunakaran threatened to form a separate wing named after Indira Gandhi.

Following the revamp in the KPCC, the state government is likely to downsize the Cabinet once the Assembly session ends in August.