AICC against changing all DPCC Presidents

New Delhi, Jan 21: Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Veerappa Moily will be in Kerala during January 23-24 to crack the long-dodging organisational revamping in the state, amid clear indication that the AICC is keen on completing the exercise during this month itself.

The visit of Mr Moily, who is in charge of party affairs in Kerala, was necessitated by the differences among the top leaders over the formula of reconstitution of the PCC.

KPCC President Ramesh Chennithala and Leader of Opposition Oommen Chandy had reportedly suggested the Party High Command to change Presidents of all the 14 District units.

This is opposed by a section of leaders who construe it as a strategy of Mr Chennithala and Mr Chandy to remove all the former loyalists of K Karunakaran from the posts of District Presidents.

At least six DPCC Presidents are known to be once close to Mr Karunakaran, who had left the Congress in May 2005 and floated a party of his own which had recently been merged with the Nationalist Congress Party.

Though the AICC and KPCC had been reassuring former Karunakaran loyalists that they would not be sidelined in the party, a section of the leaders believe that there were still efforts going on to push them on the sidelines of the party.

The Party High Command was not in favour of replacing all the incumbent DPCC Presidents. Its thinking was reportedly on the lines of replacing only those who had to be changed for specific reasons.

Defence Minister A K Antony, whose words are always taken seriously by the AICC with regard to party affairs in Kerala, is also said to be not in favour of a thorough overhaul of the DPCCs.

Mr Chandy had recently held discussion on the KPCC re-organisation issue with Party President Sonia Gandhi who had asked Mr Moily to first interact with the party leaders and workers to know their line of thinking.

Mr Moily was scheduled to visit Kerala on January 18, but he had to postpone it to January 23 due to personal reasons.

AICC sources said the revamping of the party apparatus would certainly take place within a few days after Mr Moily's return from Kerala.

Reacting to the Chief Minister's charge that the Rural Development Ministry has recognised only 66 lakh people living under the poverty line in the state while the state government feels that there were about 85 lakh people who were under the BPL on the basis of 15 point indicator.

''During the bifurcation of Bihar, the total number of BPL people were 90 lakh who were divided as 55 lakh in Bihar and 35 lakh in Jharkhand. This happened during the NDA rule. However, we got the figure corrected to 55 lakh in Bihar and 23 lakh in Jharkhand on the basis of the formula adopted during the division of Uttar Pradesh-Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh-Chhatisgarh,'' he clarified.

Mr Kumar had met Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia this week seeking his help in asking the Centre to resolve the difference in the figure of 5O lakh BPL people being quoted by Food Ministry and 66 lakh BPL people given by the Rural Development Ministry.

According to Mr Kumar, the state had over 85 lakh people living below poverty who need to be given food subsidy under the centrally sponsored Public Distribution System.

UNI