Senior Congress party leader Oommen Chandy, who has been under pressure to take over as party chief in Kerala, has reiterated his stand against holding any office.
“I have apprised the leadership of my decision and no situation that warrants a change in that position has arisen,” he told reporters in New Delhi yesterday, after a meeting with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
“I have urged Gandhi to decide on the party chief through a consensus. I have had detailed talks with him on organisational issues. I’ll accept whatever decision the party high command takes, but I don’t need a position to work for the party,” Chandy stressed.
The former chief minister of the state, whom his loyalists claim was as a victim of backstabbing by his detractors within the party, has been refusing to take up any position since last year’s electoral debacle despite an excellent track record in governance.
Chandy had earlier refused to be the floor leader of the opposition, a position with cabinet rank and all its paraphernalia, even after intense pressure from key allies in the United Democratic Front (UDF), making way for Ramesh Chennithala, a younger leader.
“I was in charge of the elections and I took the decision as the people’s verdict had not favoured us. There’s no change in that position,” he said.
The 73-year-old has been travelling across the state, mostly on the public transport, taking up people’s causes.
He had addressed scores of family meetings canvassing votes for UDF candidate P K Kunhalikutty in this month’s Malappuram by-election, which the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader won by a huge margin.
The Chandy government’s downfall began after the high-command hoisted his bitter critic V M Sudheeran as the party chief in February 2014. 
After the elections in May last year, Chandy kept away from party functions and demanded organisational elections instead of nominations, a move Sudheeran opposed tooth and nail.
Finally, the high command succumbed to the pressure of the hugely popular leader and gave Chandy an assurance on holding organisational elections soon, ensuring the subsequent resignation of Sudheeran last month.
Chandy’s aide M M Hassan is now at the helm of the party, which is now in an election mode. However, it is not immediately known if Chandy will be in the race to take up the reins of a reinvigorated party.
On Wednesday, the Congress leaders under Hassan met here and decided to conduct a comprehensive review of the functioning of its base units, to be carried out by May 10, ahead of the organisation elections. It will hold special full-day meetings in all 14 districts in the presence of Hassan and other senior leaders.
Chandy, meanwhile, dismissed Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan decision to join hands with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal “to fight” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after saying that the Congress was not capable of standing up to the BJP.
Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party ended a distant third in a recent by-election in Delhi.
“It’s a joke. Bengal was Vijayan’s party’s (Communist Party of India-Marxist) stronghold. However, the people have decimated it to a third position in the state assembly,” Chandy pointed out 
“So when these two third position holders say they will fight the BJP, nobody will take them seriously. The Congress has a presence in all the states. People will not allow anybody to write off the party,” the former chief minister said.