SPEECHLESS IN KOCHI
Yet to recover from the surprise of his unexpected appointment on February 14, the new Kerala Pradesh Congress chief just couldn’t let go of the microphone at his inaugural party convention the next day. This while Sonia Gandhi impatiently awaited her turn to speak. “I had to almost chase him away,” Sonia declared when V.M. Sudheeran was finally persuaded to relinquish the mike. “You now have a new KPCC president and you just now heard his very long speech,” Sonia said, casting an amused look at the red-faced and by now speechless Kerala Congress chief.