Requisite changes would be made to KPCC district leadership: Sunny Joseph

Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi: A day after taking charge as the new chief of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), senior leader and three-time MLA Sunny Joseph on Tuesday said requisite changes would be made to the district-level leadership of the state unit of the party.

Joseph, speaking to reporters in Delhi, also said that there was no opposition to the new party leadership in the state and that a few MPs and MLAs were absent from the function where he took charge due to prior or unavoidable commitments.

Responding to reporters' queries on whether there will be a complete reshuffle in the district-level leadership of the party, he said, "There will not be a complete overhaul of the district leadership. Changes will be made wherever it is required".

"The list of the party leadership in the state has been accepted by all. There has been no opposition to it," he added.

He said that Congress MP from Pathanamthitta, Anto Antony, as well as party MLAs Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and Rahul Mamkootathil were absent as they had to attend the memorial service of late Pathanamthitta DCC vice president M G Kannan, who passed away two days ago.

"Dean Kuriakose MP had informed in advance about a meeting he had in Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor called and congratulated me and expressed his inability to attend the event as he was in Delhi," Joseph said.

So there were no deliberate absences and the new leadership has taken over with everyone's blessings and the total support of the party workers, he added.

He also said that all preparations are underway for the local body elections to be held in the state this year, and it has started with the formation of ward committees.

"Their formation is almost complete. Under their supervision, a lot of meetings, including 'Mahatma Kudumba Sangamam', have been held. These activities will be strengthened.

Along with that, wherever required, the state and district committees will also be improved," he said.

P C Vishnunath MLA, Shafi Parambil MP, and A P Anil Kumar MLA have also assumed office as working presidents of the state Congress, and Adoor Prakash MP took charge as the UDF convener during the ceremony held on Monday.

It was on May 8 that the AICC carried out a complete overhaul of the leadership in the state by replacing Sudhakaran with Joseph, ending weeks of uncertainty over a change of guard in the Congress party in Kerala.

Sudhakaran has been made a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee (CWC), in a bid to balance the group equations within the party unit in Kerala.