KPCC to constitute core leadership group for quick decision-making at election time

The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) will constitute a core committee superseding other organisational panels, including the ‘oversized’ Political Affairs Committee (PAC), for real-time collective decision-making to quickly respond to election-era exigencies and strongly signal unity of purpose and leadership to the rank and file.

Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan, who attended an All India Congress Committee (AICC)-level brainstorming session in Delhi recently, told The Hindu that the KPCC’s poll-era strategy to turn the party into a lean and mean election-fighting machine appeared weighed down by top-heavy, unwieldy, elephantine committees. “Hence, the AICC has sanctioned a core leadership group,” he said.

Committee members

Former United Democratic Front (UDF) convener M.M. Hassan, who attended the election strategy session chaired by AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, stated that the proposed core committee would include the KPCC president, Leader of the Opposition, UDF convener, Congress Working Committee (CWC) members, CWC invitees from Kerala, and past KPCC presidents. 

“The KPCC will constitute similar apex leadership groups at the district and Assembly constituency levels to effectively steer electioneering,” he added. 

Former KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran said that past PACs rarely exceeded 21 members. The recent KPCC reorganisation had rendered Congress’s various committees expansive tents, he said.

‘A drag on momentum’

“The KPCC’s accommodating spirit has its unique advantages. However, oversized committees often preclude serious debate and effective decision-making, reduce the frequency of meetings, and render the panels politically redundant in time. The party can ill-afford an internal drag on its organisational momentum now,” he added.

A KPCC insider said the AICC had underscored the need for a core committee embodying the weight of the party’s collective leadership to mitigate possible factionalism and rebel threat in Kerala in the local body polls.

“AICC is also pushing back against ‘self-defeating’ intra-party speculation about Congress’s prospective Chief Ministerial candidate. After being shut out of power for two consecutive terms, the AICC has prioritised Kerala, given the criticality of the local body polls and the Assembly elections in 2026,” he said.

Ward committees

Moreover, the core committee, he stated, would play an crucial role in rebuilding “diminished or non-existent” ward committees in local body constituencies where the KPCC lacked boots on the ground — an estimated 20% to 25% of wards in Kerala.

Congress sources noted that the KPCC had formed a 15-member core committee in 2012, superseding the executive, to ensure collective decision-making and mitigate factionalism. They said A.K. Antony, Ramesh Chennithala (then KPCC president) and Vayalar Ravi were instrumental in forming the committee.