Owning responsibility for the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF)’s drubbing in the Kerala Assembly elections, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Mullappally Ramachandran said on Saturday that he was not interested in continuing in the post. Talking to reporters, Mullappally said that after the UDF defeat in the polls, he has given a detailed report to Congress’s national president Sonia Gandhi narrating all matters related to the elections.
"In that report, I have informed the Congress president that I am not interested in continuing in the post of KPCC president," he said. Ramachandran said he would continue in the post till an alternative arrangement is made.
Asked about his absence in the first UDF meeting held after the assembly elections on Friday, the senior Congress leader said that attending the meeting as KPCC chief was not morally correct since he has requested Sonia Gandhi to accept his resignation from the post.
He said that as the KPCC chief he had received full cooperation from Sonia Gandhi and party leader Rahul Gandhi.
"But I am saddened by the electoral defeat of the party. So I am taking the responsibility for the party's defeat," he said, adding that he has no intention to put the blame on anyone else.
It was reported that the eight-time parliamentarian has conveyed his willingness to quit but the party leadership in New Delhi asked him to continue till the selection of the new president.
His move came days after the All India Congress Committee (AICC) nominated senior leader VD Satheesan as the parliamentary party leader in the Assembly, replacing Ramesh Chennithala who had led the party for the last five years in the House.
Speculation was rife that after the Leader of the Opposition, the KPCC chief would also be changed as the national leadership was eyeing a total revamp of the party's state unit from the grassroot level.
After the Congress-led-UDF had to settle for just 41 seats of the total 140 in the April 6 Assembly polls, a group of leaders and workers, especially members of the Youth Congress, has been pressing for a complete makeover of the party's leadership structure in the state.
‘Media should not spread baseless news’
Mullappally also asked the media not to spread "baseless news" about him and the Congress. In the past few days, the media has been speaking about a new letter that he wrote to Sonia Gandhi about his inability to work as the party was divided into factions in the state.
"Let me make things clear, the so called second letter of mine is not at all true. I have written no such letter at all," Mullappally said.
He added, "Then there was a factually incorrect report that I had boycotted the Ashok Chavan committee looking into the defeat of the party. I told Chavan that I will be sending the copy of the report that I had sent to AICC President and I don't have anything more to add or take back from that report and this can be considered as my statement."