Internal bickering in the city unit of the Congress and the contentious issue of leadership change in the Kochi Corporation await Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Mullappally Ramachandran when he arrives in Kochi on Saturday.
A section of the senior Congress leaders who wants Shiny Mathew, the chairperson of the town planning standing committee, to replace Mayor Soumini Jain, and the supporters of Ms. Jain are planning to meet Mr. Ramachandran separately to press their demands. Mr. Ramachandran is scheduled to inaugurate a meeting of the Congress leaders in the city on the day.
The supporters of Ms. Jain questioned the rationale behind the claim of Ms. Mathew, a first-time councillor, to the post of Mayor. The candidature of Ms. Mathew had been mired in allegations at the time of the local body elections. Some Congress leaders had written to the then KPCC leadership stating that it was a “payment seat”, pointed out her detractors.
‘Earlier agreement’
At the same time, those opposed to Ms. Jain said the Mayor should respect the earlier agreement that she would have to make way for Ms. Mathew after completing two-and-a-half years in office. Even after completing the term allotted to her, Ms. Jain was refusing to quit, they said.
When contacted, Ms. Mathew said she was waiting for the party leadership to take a decision on the offer given to her regarding the post of Mayor. “Congress leaders earlier said Ms. Jain would step down after two-and-a-half years in office and I would be made the Mayor. Even after the completion of the term, that has not happened. I am waiting for a decision on this offer,” said Ms. Mathew.
Ms. Jain said she would go by the decisions of the Congress, which had chosen her for the post. “I will respect the decisions of the party, which gave me the opportunity to become the Mayor of Kochi,” she said.
Plan to quit
Ms. Mathew said she had plans to vacate the post of chairperson of the town planning standing committee for another Congress councillor as she had been holding the post for more than two-and-a-half years.
However, the party leadership views it as a veiled protest against the denial of the Mayor’s post. They have asked her to show restraint and not to act impulsively.
Sources in the Congress leadership, who were privy to the discussions, said a decision on the vexed issue was unlikely to be taken on Saturday.