Kerala Congress leader writes to Rahul Gandhi against KC Venugopal, expelled

Kerala Congress secretary PS Prasanth wrote to Gandhi that state unit workers had doubts about Venugopal’s actions and wondered if they were made in collusion with the BJP.

Reports of infighting in state units of the Congress have become too frequent in recent days and the party’s leadership in Kerala became the latest to join the list on Monday.

File image of Congress leader KC Venugopal.(Amal KS/HT PHOTO)

Kerala Congress secretary PS Prasanth was expelled from the party hours after it was reported that he had written to party leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi against All India Congress Committee general secretary and Rajya Sabha member KC Venugopal.

Party’s state unit chief K Sudhakaran said Prasanth was expelled from the party for challenging the Congress high command and making wild allegations, according to an input from news agency ANI.

Earlier in the day, senior Congress leader AV Gopinathan quit the party amid a tussle over the selection of 14 new district party chiefs even as senior leaders continued to air their opinion in public.

Hours ago, news surfaced Prasanth had written to Gandhi that state unit workers had doubts about Venugopal’s actions and wondered if they were made in collusion with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), adding the party was destroyed in states like Goa, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh ever since the former Union minister took charge.

"Congress workers in Kerala are doubtful whether his actions to collapse the party are in accordance with the collusion he made with BJP," the letter reportedly read.

"Since he took charge, we could witness the destruction of the party in states including Goa, Karnataka, MP, Rajasthan, Punjab, Chhattisgarh etc," it further said.

Venugopal was made AICC general secretary in 2017 and has since been in charge of the party's election war rooms in many states.

The grand old party has been riled with leadership tussles in several places, including the last three remaining Congress-ruled states of Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Reports of dissent and tumult are reported frequently from several states, besides high-profile exits, one of the latest leaders being that of former Assam MP Sushmita Dev.