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Kerala’s Cong groups wash their dirty linen in public
Kerala’s Congress party has taken its intense group war into the streets in Kannur with even top leaders like Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Union Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran finding it difficult to stay away from it. Group-neutral functionaries are worried that the development could affect the functioning of the party-led Government.
The current round of the faction war is over the removal of a board the Kerala Police Association (KPA) had placed near a police camp in Kannur, hailing local MP K Sudhakaran, a loyalist of Union Minister Vayalar Ravi, on the orders of Superintendent of Police Anup John Kuruvila. The SP also suspended six policemen in connection with the incident.
Enraging Sudhakaran’s supporters, who viewed the poster removal as an attempt to humiliate him, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, heading his own “A” group in the party, justified the SP’s action. On Monday, Sudhakaran unleashed an attack against Chandy telling him that it was the Chief Minister’s job to protect the honour of people’s representatives.
Sudhakaran, who complained that the humiliation had caused a lot of pain to him, even went to the extent of saying “Only those who know the value of pride can understand the pain one feels when pride is wounded”. On Monday evening, his supporters removed boards bearing Chandy’s pictures from the compound of the district collectorate in Kannur.
On Tuesday, regional leaders of Chandy’s “A” group demanded action against Sudhakaran who, according to them, was “running amok beyond all party controls”. They alleged that a section of Youth Congress workers had on Monday removed Chandy’s boards as per the direct orders of Sudhakaran, known as the “boldest” Congress leader in Kannur, the Marxist heartland.
Reports from Kannur say that not all leaders of “Broader I”-group in which Vayalar Ravi’s faction is a constituent are supportive of the “arrogant” attitude of Sudhakaran. “Group wars cannot be avoided in the Congress but it is another thing to attack the Chief Minister,” said a Kannur-based leader of the “I”-group led by State Congress president Ramesh Chennithala.
According to Sudhakaran’s supporters, the SP had ordered the removal of the board praising Sudhakaran in order to humiliate him publicly and he had the support of Chandy, holding the Home portfolio, for this. Sudhakaran asked Chandy why posters hailing him were seen even inside the police stations while others’ boards were being removed.
Almost all top Congress leaders in the State have already taken sides in the issue and group-neutral leaders warn that this could lead to a total collapse of discipline in the party. Union Minister Mullappally Ramachandran drew flak from the Sudhakaran camp for praising the SP and justifying his order for removal of the board praising the MP.
Group-neutral Congress leaders are worried that the open faction war on the streets could speed up the process of collapse of the party-led UDF Government which is surviving on the majority of just one seat in the 140-seat Assembly. “Strangely, no senior leader seems to be serious about that,” said a former KPCC member from Thrissur.
He said the disunity in the party was sure to affect the prospects of the UDF in the by-poll to be held at Piravam constituency. “Fears are already there that the UDF might lose the Piravam by-election thanks to the blunders the Government is committing. The group war is sure to make matters worse for the UDF candidate there,” he said.
Kerala’s Congress party has taken its intense group war into the streets in Kannur with even top leaders like Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Union Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran finding it difficult to stay away from it. Group-neutral functionaries are worried that the development could affect the functioning of the party-led Government.
The current round of the faction war is over the removal of a board the Kerala Police Association (KPA) had placed near a police camp in Kannur, hailing local MP K Sudhakaran, a loyalist of Union Minister Vayalar Ravi, on the orders of Superintendent of Police Anup John Kuruvila. The SP also suspended six policemen in connection with the incident.
Enraging Sudhakaran’s supporters, who viewed the poster removal as an attempt to humiliate him, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, heading his own “A” group in the party, justified the SP’s action. On Monday, Sudhakaran unleashed an attack against Chandy telling him that it was the Chief Minister’s job to protect the honour of people’s representatives.
Sudhakaran, who complained that the humiliation had caused a lot of pain to him, even went to the extent of saying “Only those who know the value of pride can understand the pain one feels when pride is wounded”. On Monday evening, his supporters removed boards bearing Chandy’s pictures from the compound of the district collectorate in Kannur.
On Tuesday, regional leaders of Chandy’s “A” group demanded action against Sudhakaran who, according to them, was “running amok beyond all party controls”. They alleged that a section of Youth Congress workers had on Monday removed Chandy’s boards as per the direct orders of Sudhakaran, known as the “boldest” Congress leader in Kannur, the Marxist heartland.
Reports from Kannur say that not all leaders of “Broader I”-group in which Vayalar Ravi’s faction is a constituent are supportive of the “arrogant” attitude of Sudhakaran. “Group wars cannot be avoided in the Congress but it is another thing to attack the Chief Minister,” said a Kannur-based leader of the “I”-group led by State Congress president Ramesh Chennithala.
According to Sudhakaran’s supporters, the SP had ordered the removal of the board praising Sudhakaran in order to humiliate him publicly and he had the support of Chandy, holding the Home portfolio, for this. Sudhakaran asked Chandy why posters hailing him were seen even inside the police stations while others’ boards were being removed.
Almost all top Congress leaders in the State have already taken sides in the issue and group-neutral leaders warn that this could lead to a total collapse of discipline in the party. Union Minister Mullappally Ramachandran drew flak from the Sudhakaran camp for praising the SP and justifying his order for removal of the board praising the MP.
Group-neutral Congress leaders are worried that the open faction war on the streets could speed up the process of collapse of the party-led UDF Government which is surviving on the majority of just one seat in the 140-seat Assembly. “Strangely, no senior leader seems to be serious about that,” said a former KPCC member from Thrissur.
He said the disunity in the party was sure to affect the prospects of the UDF in the by-poll to be held at Piravam constituency. “Fears are already there that the UDF might lose the Piravam by-election thanks to the blunders the Government is committing. The group war is sure to make matters worse for the UDF candidate there,” he said.
