Kerala: Rumblings within Congress, Ramesh Chennithala unhappy with CWC reshuffling

Thiruvananthapuram: Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala expressed unhappiness over not being selected for the Congress Working Committee. Despite the fact that Chennithala has been a permanent invitee to the CWC for 19 years, people close to him point out that this status has not changed.  The working committee and Chennithala have been associated since 2004.  When the party's president, Mallikarjun Kharge, reconstituted the committee on Sunday, MP Shashi Tharoor—a considerably younger party member than Chennithala—found a spot in the new group.

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Chennithala stated his desire to voice his complaints to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, underlining what he saw to be unfair. The Haripad MLA declined to react when contacted by the media, though. According to sources, Chennithala would shortly wrap up his campaigning in Puthuppally and return.

This time, Chennithala had hoped for a permanent position on the working committee. Oommen Chandy, AK Antony, and KC Venugopal formerly served as Kerala's representatives on the committee. This time, Oommen Chandy has been replaced by Shashi Tharoor, while AK Antony has been kept on despite his age-related decline in active participation. The general secretary of the Congress organisation, KC Venugopal, will continue to serve on the working committee. Notably, a special invitee is Suresh Kodikunnil.

AICC has instructed the leaders to avoid publicity controversy in the Congress Working Committee. Mallikarjun Kharge is expected to speak to the unhappy leaders over the reshuffling of CWC. 
 

• CWC reshuffle
• Ramesh Chennithala
• Mallikarjun Kharge