Sunny Joseph to assume charge as KPCC president on Monday

Thiruvananthapuram | Newly appointed president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), Sunny Joseph, will assume charge on Monday, party sources said here on Sunday.

At a function to be held in the KPCC headquarters, outgoing president K Sudhakaran will formally hand over the charge to Joseph, they said.

P C Vishnunath MLA, Shafi Parambil MP, and A P Anil Kumar MLA will assume office as working presidents, and Adoor Prakash MP will take charge as the UDF convener during the ceremony, they said.

Meanwhile, Joseph, accompanied by Vishnunath, Parambil, and Anil Kumar, visited the memorial of the late Congress stalwart and former Chief Minister K Karunakaran in Thrissur on Sunday.

They paid floral tributes at the memorial. Later, they also paid tributes at the memorial of the former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at a church in Puthuppally in Kottayam district.

After paying tributes at Karunakaran's memorial, Joseph, who represents the Peravoor Assembly seat in the Kerala Legislative Assembly, said that he is beginning his journey from there and that the memories of Karunakaran will be a source of inspiration.

He added that before taking charge, he wishes to remember the veteran Congress leaders.

It was on May 8 that the AICC undertook a complete overhaul of the leadership in the state by replacing Sudhakaran with three-time MLA Sunny Joseph, ending weeks of uncertainty over a change of guard in the Congress party in Kerala.

The party has named the new convenor of the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF), replacing M M Hassan.

The long-awaited reshuffle in the party leadership comes ahead of the local body elections to be held later this year and the Assembly elections due in mid-2026.

Although Sudhakaran had expressed his disapproval of the moves to remove him from the KPCC post, the party high command took the decision to bring in a new face ahead of the crucial elections in the state.

Sudhakaran has been made a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee (CWC), in a bid to balance the group equations within the party unit in Kerala.