THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The new Congress state leadership on Sunday came in for sharp criticism not just from former state unit president V M Sudheeran who resigned from the political affairs committee alleging lack of adequate discussion during the party revamping but also the central leadership for failing to take everyone along as instructed.
What has upset Sudheeran more is state unit president K Sudhakaran’s claim that the former had quit because of health issues and that the leadership was not at fault. Opposition leader V D Satheesan’s public confession after meeting the senior leader in person here on Sunday that there had been lapses from his side exposed the contradictory positions of the new top two.
Tariq Anwar, party national general secretary in charge of the state, is learnt to have conveyed the Congress high command’s strong displeasure to the state leadership. It may be recalled that the central leadership had extended full support to Sudhakaran and Satheesan until recently. Pressure on the two after Sudheeran stepped down from the 21-member PAC increased after state unit president’s loyalist and Thrissur MP T N Prathapan shot off a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday. Senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy also said the presence of a leader of Sudheeran’s stature in the PAC cannot be compromised on. He urged the leadership to identify the issues that hurt Sudheeran and address them.
Following the bashing from Anwar and Chandy, Satheesan rushed to Sudheeran’s house. The Opposition leader looked glum after the hour-long meeting and was gracious enough to admit openly to his mistake of not taking everyone into confidence. “I apologised to Sudheeran for the lapses on my side. He did not promise to revoke his resignation. Sudheeran is known to never go back on his firm positions,” said Satheesan.
‘Party will not sideline or alienate anyone’
While Sudheeran liked the political honesty of Satheesan, he was upset with Sudhakaran’s claim that he had stepped down from the PAC owing to poor health. Sudheeran told Satheesan that the latter and Sudhakaran have wasted the Congress high command’s full support to them.
He is learnt to have told him that if there were only leaders of the two prominent groups who called the shots in the state unit earlier, now there are four of them. This did not go down well with Sudhakaran who reacted sharply, telling the media, “There are no serious issues in the party. We had given Sudheeran the opportunity to express his views. But he did not utilise it.
The party will not sideline or alienate anyone.” Though Anwar was scheduled to meet Sudheeran on Sunday evening to placate him, the meeting was called off. The central leader will try to meet him before he leaves for New Delhi on Monday night. Anwar, during the meeting with the state leadership, including the three new working presidents, reiterated the need to take everyone into confidence at least during the second leg of organisational restructuring.
Chidambaram hails CM’s stand on ‘love jihad’; Sudhakaran says, ‘we will comment, not you’
T’Puram: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram lauded the stand taken by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan against the ‘narcotic jihad’ remarks of Pala Bishop Mar Joseph Kallarangatt. However, Congress state president K Sudhakaran denounced the views of Congress Working Committee leader Chidambaram on Sunday.
In an article in ‘The Indian Express’, Chidambaram opined that it is not at all surprising the way in which Hindutva organisations had rallied behind the Pala bishop. Saying that the remarks reveal the warped thinking, Chidambaram expressed happiness that Pinarayi had “read the riot act” to the Pala bishop. The veteran Congress leader also praised Opposition leader V D Satheesan for taking a strong stand in the ‘narcotic jihad’ row. However, Sudhakaran said he is not aware about what led Chidambaram to comment about ‘narcotic jihad’. It is for leaders based in the state to comment on the developments here rather than leaders like Chidambaram.