A little before the list of Congress party presidents of the 14 districts in Kerala (District Congress Committee or DCC presidents) were announced late Saturday, two party workers expressed their displeasure over the selection in public and later got suspended for it. Senior leaders K Sivadasan, former Member of Legislative Assembly, and KP Anil Kumar, former state general secretary of the party, were temporarily suspended. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K Sudhakaran revealed the decision in a statement issued shortly afterward.
"They both showed lack of discipline and made public statements through the media related to the reconstitution of DCCs," the statement said. The selection of DCC presidents was made by the All India Congress Committee (AICC).
There had already been criticism for the delay in finalising the list. For the 14 posts in the state, there were many contenders, with senior party leaders recommending several names. When the list was finally put out, Sivadasan and Anil Kumar made scathing criticism against the state leadership over the selection of the DCC chiefs. Anil Kumar reportedly told a television channel that the new list would be the "Waterloo of the Congress in Kerala." Sivadasan also made supporting comments in the same channel discussion.
Manorama reports that the DCC chiefs in Kottayam, Idukki and Alappuzha were replaced at the last minute, after considering the opinions of senior Congress leaders Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala.
The AICC on Saturday evening published the list of 14 DCCs in the state, following which the disgruntled leaders made the remarks on TV talk shows. The list is as follows:
Thiruvananthapuram – Palode Ravi
Kollam - Rajendra Prasad
Alappuzha - B Babu Prasad
Kottayyam - Nattakom Suresh
Pathanamthitta – Prof Satheesh Kochuparambil
Idukki - CP Mathew
Ernakulam -- Mohammed Shiyas
Thrissur - Jose Valloor
Palakkad - A Thankappan
Kozhikode - Adv K Praveen Kumar
Malappuram - VS Joy
Wayanad - ND Appachan
Kannur - Martin George
Kasaragod - PK Faisal
(With agency inputs)