Functioning style of Congress leadership in Kerala triggers criticism

Resentment in Kerala Congress over the style of functioning of the new state leaders aggravated further on Monday as another senior leader openly flayed the leadership even when efforts to pacify a disgruntled senior leader was not yet fruitful despite intervention of the national leadership.

Former Kerala PCC president Mullapally Ramachandran on Monday came out in the open against the Kerala PCC president K Sudhakaran for accusing him of not attending phone calls and not utilising the opportunities given for discussions on revamping the party.

Ramachandran told reporters that it was improper to give time slots to senior leaders for discussions by the Kerala PCC president and he would be the last person to turn up for such a discussion. Nobody would also tell that I would not attend phone calls, he said.

Ramachandran made the comments along with AICC general secretary Tariq Anwar who called on him at his residence in Thiruvananthapuram.

Anwar also called on another former Kerala PCC president, V M Sudheeran, who had quit from the political affairs committee earlier. Sudheeran imposed further pressure by resigning from the AICC as well.

After the closed door talks with Anwar, Sudheeran said that he had raised his concerns with the national leadership, especially with regard to lack of proper consultations by the state leadership on matters like selection of the state and district officer bearers. The approach and functioning style of the new leadership was not in the right direction. He also said that he would take a decision on withdrawing his resignation after the national leadership's decision on the issues he raised come.

Anwar said that the suggestions made by Sudheeran was being considered seriously by the party.

The national leadership earlier backed the new state leadership comprising of Sudhakaran and opposition leader V D Satheesan when there was resentment from senior leaders like Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala over the selection of district committee presidents. But now, the national leadership is making serious intervention as more leaders, including party MPs, sought the its intervention to stop the resentment from aggravating further. Already, four leaders left the party during the last few weeks and three had also joined the CPI(M).

The major discontent among the senior Congress leaders, who have been running the show over these years, was that they were not being involved in finalising the list of new office bearers though their suggestions were sought by the Sudhakaran-Satheesan leadership. Moreover, both the leaders were also making open statements ignoring the senior leaders.

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