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Oommen Chandy urges Sonia Gandhi to call off revamp of Kerala Congress unit
Former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday called on Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi urging her to call off the ongoing revamp in the state unit in view of the upcoming organisational elections.
Thiruvananthapuram Former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday called on Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi urging her to call off the ongoing revamp in the state unit in view of the upcoming organisational elections.
After meeting Gandhi, Chandy said whatever he wanted to say he has conveyed it to the party president and general secretary Tariq Anwar and he did not want to make them public. Leaders close to him said he expressed reservations over recent disciplinary actions against some leaders and criticised the style of functioning of the new leadership in the state. Tariq Anwar is expected to visit the state on Thursday, a senior leader said.
But the official faction maintained that they made changes with the knowledge of central leaders. Opposition leader V D Satheesan said if senior leaders have any reservations or apprehensions they will be cleared soon. “We always respect seniors. If they have some reservations we will talk to them,” he said in Kozhikode in north Kerala. Senior leader Ramesh Chennithala is also expected to arrive in the national capital next week.
Dissension in the state unit aggravated after the appointment of new Pradesh Congress Committee president K Sudhakaran, a tough leader from Communist heartland, Kannur and Opposition leader VD Satheesan. The move sidelined two powerful blocs, led by Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala, who dominated the state unit for more than a decade-and-a-half. Serious differences between leaders have percolated down the party chain of command.
Disciplinary actions were taken against leaders who aired their discontent in public. Last week a former state secretary M A Latheef, a staunch loyalist of Chandy, was suspended for “anti-party activities”. He said he was suspended without any notice and he has no idea why disciplinary action was taken against him. But later the PCC made it clear that action was initiated for dissident activities. Some of the expelled leaders like Anil Kumar and P S Prashant later joined the ruling CPI(M) in August.
Earlier, Chandy had criticised the way senior leaders were suspended and asked the new leadership to exercise restraint and take everyone along. But the PCC president maintained that discipline was supreme in the party.
In the April assembly elections, the party was expecting to return to power, given the pattern of power alternating between the state’s two major formations, but it faced a humiliating defeat. The fact that party leader, Rahul Gandhi, is a member of Parliament from Kerala added to the ignominy. It led to a major internal shift in the power structure and leadership was forced to intervene in the faction-ridden unit. “Changes were brought in the name of factions but new factions have emerged in the party now,” said political commentator Sunnykutty Abraham.
