Sudhakaran confident party will not remove him from KPCC president Post

Thiruvananthapuram | Amid widespread reports that there will be a change in the Congress party leadership in Kerala, KPCC president K Sudhakaran on Sunday expressed confidence that the party high command will not ask him to step down.

“It is up to the party high command to decide whether I should quit the post. I believe they have not taken such a decision. That is my confidence in the party and the leadership,” he told a TV channel.

Sudhakaran, who had a meeting with AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi the other day, said there was not a slightest hint during the 90-minute meeting that he will be replaced.

Sudhakaran alleged that a ‘troublesome few’ in the state unit of the party are indulging in a propaganda that his health is weak and that he is not active at the party headquarters.

“If I have any health issue, I know how to take treatment. A few people in the party are trying to sideline me citing non-existent health issues,” he charged.

Sudhakaran, 76, said efficiency, and not age, should be the criterion for holding a party post. “Many people older than me had held the KPCC chief’s post in the past,” he said.

He, however, said if the party asks him to step down, he would willingly do so. “I will hand over my letter with a smiling face, if the party asks me to go,” he said.

Rumours are rife that KPCC leadership will be reshuffled before the coming by-election to the Nilambur assembly constituency and the subsequent polls to the local bodies.

The names of his possible successors have also been doing the rounds, including that of Anto Antony MP and Sunny Joseph MLA.

Both the leaders have feigned ignorance about the moves of the party high command. Talking to reporters, Anto Antony MP said he had not received any information about the AICC’s reported moves, while Sunny Joseph refused any comment on the issue.

Meanwhile, former KPCC president K Muraleedharan, who backs Sudhakaran’s continuance in the post, had a dig at his possible successors, saying the post should go to a person whose photo could be identified by the people.

Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Shashi Tharoor MP also said the other day that he felt there was no need to replace Sudhakaran at this stage.