Thiruvananthapuram | Senior Congress leader N Sakthan has been given temporary charge as the president of the Thiruvananthapuram District Congress Committee (DCC) following the resignation of Palode Ravi from the post on Saturday, after a phone conversation leak.
The swift action was taken by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) as the elections to the local bodies and the assembly are getting nearer.
Sakthan, a former Assembly Speaker and State Minister, said he would use his experience of having held important positions to the party’s advantage and try his best to get more seats for Congress in the upcoming elections to local bodies and the assembly.
Sakthan had been elected to the assembly twice from Nemom constituency and later from Kattakkada in the capital district.
The KPCC had on Saturday asked for the resignation of Palode Ravi after the audio of his telephone conversation with a local leader in which he predicted a poor performance for the Congress in the coming elections was leaked and later aired by TV channels.
The Congress also expelled the local leader A Jaleel, whose phone conversation with Ravi was leaked, from the party’s primary membership for engaging in anti-organisational activities.
The leaked phone conversation between Ravi and Jaleel—in which Ravi predicted "doom" for the Congress in the upcoming elections—had triggered shockwaves among state leaders, who have been projecting a major victory for the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in the upcoming polls.
The local body polls in Kerala are tentatively scheduled for December this year, while the assembly elections are due in April-May next year.
