Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee Chief Mullappally Ramachandran said on Friday that he “takes full responsibility for Congress’s defeat in the local body polls”. He added that “many will come forward to take credit for victory but nobody will take responsibility for a defeat.” He also added that he believed in “collective leadership”.
“When UDF won 19 out of 20 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, nobody gave me a bouquet and everyone said it was a result of collective efforts,” Mullappally added.
On Wednesday, it was clear that the Left had swept the local body polls in Kerala with the LDF winning 10 of the 14 district panchayats (UDF won 4), 108 of the 152 block panchayats (UDF won 44) and 514 of the 941 grama panchayats (UDF won 375). The BJP only managed to secure 22 grama panchayats.
The KPCC chief also stated there were shortcomings within the Congress party as well, but said he was not disappointed. “It is a fact that the UDF has not been able to win any local body polls since 2010,” he said.
The KPCC’s political affairs committee also evaluated the results and concluded Congress had failed to live up to the expectations in the local body polls, despite making gains in the 2015 local body election.
He also spoke about the internal rift in the party with regard to selecting a candidate in Mullappally’s hometown of Kallamala in Kozhikode’s Vadakara. The disagreement was mainly between Mullappally, who decided to field his protege KP Jayakumar while MP K Muraleedharan and the rest of the party chose C Sugathan Master — a candidate from its ally, Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP).
While speaking, an emotional Mullappally also said that he was isolated and attacked. “Tell me what mistake I made and I will immediately correct it,” he reportedly told the media. He concluded by adding that he had no interest in discussing party controversies and will move forward with “faith in party activists.”
To evaluate their performance and figure out what went wrong, a meeting of the KPCC Political Affairs committee members, MPs, MLAs, DCC Presidents, etc. will be held on January 6 and 7, 2021. Furthermore, a meeting of KPCC secretaries and secretaries in charge of districts will also take place on Saturday.