Mullappally not to quit, puts onus on AICC

Thiruvananthapuram: KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran has decided not to resign and has urged the AICC to take a decision in this matter. Ramachandran is upset that he is being blamed for the poll debacle and that all group managers are targeting him.
He had a discussion with senior leaders Ramesh Chennithala and Oommen Chandy and told them that he will not resign unless the party high command asks him to do so. Irrespective of group affiliations, party leaders are now pointing a finger at the KPCC president for the party’s biggest defeat.
Ramachandran has convened the political affairs committee of the KPCC on May 7 to discuss this poll debacle. He is waiting to see whether there will be a demand for his ouster at this meeting.
He has already told leaders close to him that he alone cannot be held responsible for UDF’s defeat in assembly elections. Moreover, he was not given credit when the party had won 19 seats in Lok Sabha elections under his leadership. Then why only he should shoulder the responsibility for the party’s defeat, he asked the leaders close to him.
Though there was a demand for the removal of Chennithala also from the opposition leader’s post, the ‘I’ group is not supporting this move. Group leaders are of the view that Ramesh was an ‘excellent’ opposition leader and he did not get enough support from the party for all allegations he had raised during his tenure.
Both ‘A’ and ‘I’ groups are still adamant that their leaders should be accommodated in plum posts and are not ready to make changes in the party, which could upset their leaders.
K Muraleedharan, who lost the elections in Nemom, also met Ramachandran, Chennithala and Chandy on Tuesday. He is learnt to have told the party leaders that a change in the party leadership is not the apt solution for the crisis faced by the party.
It is also interesting to note that KPCC general secretaries, who received their posts through group sharing, have now started blaming the groups for the party’s defeat.