Rival Congress factions in Kerala in no mood to lie low

The opposing sides in the faction-ridden Congress in Kerala appear to be in no mood to lie low as was seen at the first meeting of the newly-constituted committee of the party which met here on Tuesday.

Since the defeat of the Congress-led UDF in the April 6 Assembly polls, the party party high command has literally taken over the affairs of the party and brought in those they wished – K. Sudhakaran was appointed the new state President and V.D. Satheesan the Leader of Opposition.

This irked the traditional faction managers in the party – Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala, who have literally been sidelined by the high command and this forced the two to unite to take on their "common enemy".

However, Sudhakaran by now has given enough hints that he wouldn't mind taking on his adversaries, even if it comes to resorting to the ballot, as the organisational polls to elect the national President of the party are round the corner, and he is ready to contest for the state President's post.

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The last time a state President came through the ballot was in the early 1990s when Vayalar Ravi thumped A.K.Antony and since then the state party chief has always been nominated by the high command.

According to a source who did not wish to be identified, those leaders who are known supporters of the Chandy-Chennithala duo appear to have declared war on Sudhakaran and it surfaced in the meeting as well.

Sudhakaran, who is known for his tough demeanour, made it clear in the meeting that indiscipline would not be tolerated and public utterances will be treated toughly and asked all to air their views and opinion in the party forum only.

The first meeting of the newly-constituted organisational body of the state unit saw two former state Presidents — immediate former incumbent Mullapally Ramachandran and V.M.Sudheeran — missing, as they are not on the same page with Sudhakaran, nor are they close to the Chandy-Chennithala group.

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