JOIN USKerala: Open spat in Congress over reconstitution
Hardly a month after a leadership meeting of the Congress in Kerala made a call for unity, the state is witnessing the party's senior leaders openly criticising the state leadership in connection with reconstitution of the party.
Congress Lok Sabha MPs M K Raghavan and Benny Behanan openly accused party leadership of flaws in the list of new block committee presidents and lack of consultations before finalising the list. The Congress 'A' group members in the state were even planning to keep off from block committee meetings to voice their resentment.
The list of 280-odd block presidents of the party in Kerala was announced by the party state leadership in two phases. The first list was released by the late hours of Friday while a second list was released on Monday afternoon. It was alleged that even as a committee of senior leaders finalised the presidents and submitted it to the leadership, the top leader made alterations.
Behanan told reporters that it was unfair to release the list of block presidents during the late hours. It seems that new groups are being formed in the party while stating that group equations are being done away with, he said. He also alleged that though the leadership earlier assured of consensus, the same did not take place.
Raghavan said that the norms for reconstitution were not followed and there were also complaints of not maintaining communal balance. The state leadership would hopefully look into the matter, he added.
It was in the backdrop of the simmering differences within the party over various issues that a leadership meet was held at Wayanad on May 9 and 10. All senior leaders had maintained at the meeting that all differences would be kept aside and the party would unitedly fight the coming elections.
During the leadership meeting, Kerala PCC president K Sudhakaran had expressed displeasure over the delay in completing the party's reconstitution owing to the differences. The leadership subsequently decided to complete the reconstitution by June.