Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 31 The affairs in the Congress party in Kerala, after a series of suspensions, a senior leader quitting and veterans like Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala going hammer and tongs against the way the 14 district presidents were named, continue to haunt the party in the state.
Tuesday began with the news of two time former party legislator K. Sivadasan Nair who has been suspended and given a show cause notice for his outbursts on Saturday said, all what he did was to express his emotions and there was nothing beyond that.
Today the major grudge is against new State president K. Sudhakaran and new Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan, who are trying to cold shoulder seasoned veterans like Chandy and Chennithala who continue to have a sizeable following, even though some of them have crossed over to the Sudhakaran and Satheesan camp.
With the bitter verbal onslaught between the veterans taking centrestage and the sudden decision of A.V. Gopinath, a top leader in Palakkad announcing his decision to quit the party on Monday, Sudhakaran who is trying hard to defend his actions, announced he will prevail upon Gopinath to withdraw his decision.
A source in the know of things revealed that the high command has given the green signal to Sudhakaran to see that he tries to prevail upon Gopinath and allow him to cancel his decision.
This has apparently left the now estranged duo of Chandy and Chennithala fuming and said this is not acceptable when Sivadasan Nair and former Organisational secretary of the party in Kerala - K.P. Anil Kumar was suspended, while Gopinath was treated differently.
Meanwhile, Sudhakaran realising that Chandy is a tough nut to crack and despite his failing health, continues to be the darling of the majority Congressmen, on Tuesday Sudhakaran said that in the best interest of the party everyone should go forward together and he will not rake it up again.
A media critic on condition of anonymity said the only Congress leader at present who has a pan Kerala following is none other than Chandy.
"Neither Sudhakaran nor Satheesan are anywhere near Chandy in popularity and capability and dealing with situations like this. Chandy is best described as a crafty 'surgeon' who can conduct any operation without a single drop of 'blood' being spilled. He came trumps up when he took on the legendary Karunakaran when he was at his peak in the mid nineties and Karunakaran who knows very well, that it was because of the crafty Chandy he lost out, but till he breathed his last, he never ever spoke anything against Chandy. Neither of them can go forward without taking Chandy into confidence and Sudhakaran has realised, Satheesan might take a while because he is much younger," said the critic and added that in the present fiasco created by the high command, Chandy has emerged stronger.
Meanwhile, anger across the board is gathering momentum against AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal who has become the Man Friday of Rahul Gandhi and both Chandy and Chennithala know the present trouble creator is him, who is trying to get control over the Kerala unit of the party using Sudhakaran and Satheesan.
From now on since daggers have been drawn and Sudhakaran already acknowledging he is stopping his tirades, all eyes are on what the new composition would be of the state unit of the party, which has just the president and three working presidents while the remaining office bearers are yet to be announced and with trouble brewing, it remains to be seen if the high command will give weightage to Chandy and Chennithala, or will they attempt another coup.
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