The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) is planning to make its two-day ‘Chintan Shivir’, scheduled here from July 23, a strict closed-door affair out of bounds for the media.
The event follows a similar exercise held at the national level in Udaipur in Rajasthan in May, aimed at revitalising the party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2024. The party is expected to prepare a calendar explaining its organisational strategy. Senior leaders said that a comprehensive and timely reformation of the party programme was on the cards.
Even in Udaipur, the delegates were asked to deposit their mobile phones in a box kept outside the six halls where discussions were held. They were allowed to take them back only after the deliberations were over. However, press briefings were held at regular intervals at the ‘media centre’ to release a gist of what happened at the sessions. A similar pattern is expected here as well.
“Full-time media presence is allowed only during the opening and valedictory sessions. There is a dedicated media centre where our leaders will brief you on the daily deliberations,” Kozhikode District Congress Committee president K. Praveen Kumar said on Tuesday.
Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, MLA, and M.J. Job would prepare a report on ‘Mission 24’ on the Lok Sabha poll strategy. V.K. Sreekantan, MP, and M.A. Shukkoor would head the political committee, Benni Behanan, MP, and V.P. Prathapachandran would head the economic committee, M.K. Raghavan, MP, and Abdul Muthalib would head the organisation committee, and Kodikkunnil Suresh and Aryadan Shoukath would head the outreach committee.
The leaders said that five sessions would be held over two days and the delegates would be divided into 40-member groups. Discussions would also revolve around increasing the representation of Dalits, minorities, backward communities, women, and youth in party forums.
Mr. Praveen Kumar said that KPCC president K. Sudhakaran would open the ‘shivir’ at 9.30 a.m. on July 23 at the Aspin Courtyards on the Kozhikode beach. K.C. Venugopal, MP, and general secretary in-charge of organisation; Tariq Anwar, general secretary in charge of Kerala; Digvijay Singh, former Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh; and Viswanathan Perumal, All India Congress Committee secretary, would participate in the deliberations on both days. The other delegates are MPs, MLAs, KPCC functionaries, DCC presidents, KPCC executive members, leaders of party affiliated organisations and national leaders from Kerala.
