Oommen Chandy to head Cong committee for Kerala Assembly polls

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 18 (IANS) Senior Congress leader and former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will head a panel of Congress leaders who would be supervising the upcoming Assembly elections. The Congress Supervisory Committee would comprise ten members which may have a few more inclusions later.The Congress committee will include Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President Mullappally Ramachandran, Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly Ramesh Chennithala, former KPCC President K. Muraleedharan, Congress Lok Sabha member K. Sudhakaran, All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Tariq Anwar , AICC General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal, KPCC Working President Kodikunnil Suresh. Shashi Tharoor is likely to be inducted later.Congress Working Committee member A.K. Antony will be heading the poll campaign and would be present in Kerala from mid-February onwards till the end of the Assembly elections.A.K. Antony while speaking to IANS said, "The Congress party will have a collective leadership and most of the candidates will be fresh and young faces. The Congress will come back with a bang in the 2021 Kerala Assembly elections."Congress leader K.C. Venugopal while speaking to mediapersons said, "The Congress is on track and those who are rejoicing at the recent local body poll victories are living in a fool's paradise. The Congress party has already done all the basic preparations and there will be several fresh faces as our candidates."The Congress high command does not want the 2021 Kerala Assembly elections to be a repeat of the recent state local body polls wherein the party and the United Democratic Front (UDF) received a drubbing.The main coalition partner of the Congress in the UDF, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), is also happy at Oommen Chandy coming back to the helm of the Congress party.IUML National Organising Secretary and Member of Parliament, E.T. Mohammed Basheer while speaking to IANS said, "Chandy is a seasoned politician and his coming back to the helm of affairs in the Congress party will provide a morale boost to both the Congress and the Muslim League cadres. He is a grassroot leader who knows the pulse of the people and it is a welcome development as far as the Congress, the Muslim League and the UDF is concerned."
--IANS aal/khz/bg