Kerala Assembly Elections 2021: Congress being rejigged with Chandy back at helm

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 19: Ahead of state assembly elections, former chief minister and AICC general secretary Oommen Chandy is being brought back to the forefront of the leadership as part of strengthening the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala.

The Congress high command on Monday decided to set up a committee headed by Chandy to oversee and manage the party's campaign for the upcoming polls in Kerala, signalling that the former CM would play a lead role in the election efforts.

However, the party, will not project Chandy as CM candidate to avoid an internal showdown before polls.

After UDF's poor showing in the local body elections, party chief Sonia Gandhi and senior leader Rahul Gandhi met top leaders from the state and reviewed preparations for the Assembly elections.

Amid deepening factional feud, top leaders - among them Chandy, state Congress chief Mullappally Ramachandran and Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala - met the Congress president along with senior leader A K Antony, AICC general secretary in charge of organisation K C Venugopal and AICC in charge of Kerala Tariq Anwar.

It is learnt that the state leadership has been asked to give tickets to a sizable number of fresh and young faces.