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The Kerala Congress unit is in new turmoil – this time due to the naming of caucus chiefs for the party, with its entrenched factions led by party governors opposing the leadership of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Chairman K.P. Sudhakaran and the party leader. The Opposition (LoP) VD Satheesan is taking up arms against these appointments.
The Congress has 283 block units across Kerala, which fall under 14 District Congress Committees (DCCs). While the chairs of the 170 BCCs were chosen without major dispute last month, consensus on the appointment of the remaining caucus chairs by Sudhakaran last week eluded.
Rival groups, led by ailing former chief minister Oommen Chandy and former home minister Ramesh Chinethala, have come out publicly against the choice of chiefs in the 113 BDCs, charging that they were not consulted about them.
The congressional-led UFD advocate and former KPCC chairman, M. – Consult a party. Party unity has diminished. Congressional leadership is responsible for this dangerous situation. The party’s central leadership directed the country’s leadership to consult with us about the disputed names. This did not happen. Hence we seek the intervention of the party’s senior leadership.
Disagreement over the appointment of heads of caucus units in the Congress has led to ‘A’ and ‘I’ groups (Karunakaran) joining forces against Sudhakaran and Satheesan, who have led the party after the Congress debacle in the 2021 state assembly elections. Hassan came out against the duo after deliberating with senior leaders The factions including Shinithala, who leads the “I” group.
However, unfazed by the protests by the state’s top Congress leaders, Sudhakaran said on Monday that there would be no going back in regulatory reform. “Next in line for the organizational amendment is the appointment of chairmen of Mandalaam committees (under the bloc), which will be completed within a specified time frame,” he said.
Sudhakaran attacked the state censors, accusing them of being responsible for “spoiling” the atmosphere of unity in the party. Who transferred the differences within the party to the media? They did it. Only a few of the leaders are of the opinion that unity in the party has been lost due to the selection of the heads of the bloc’.
Sudhakaran sought to extend an olive branch to the disaffected group leaders, who boycotted a training camp for the newly appointed bloc party chiefs in Kochi on Monday. Chinythala and senior loyalists of Chandi B.C. Joseph is among the party leaders who did not attend the session in Kochi, although General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) Tariq Anwar attended.
Both groups of Congress (“A” and “I”) decided to boycott the course as a sign of protest against the unilateral appointment of caucus chairs. AICC leadership gave instructions to Sudhakaran and Satheesan to consult all the (group) senior leaders. But the duo wanted to dominate the entire party machinery and therefore neglected our views. A source from the ‘I’ group said, ‘We are looking for the party’s senior leadership to intervene.
With the 2024 Lok Sabha elections less than a year away, the Kerala Congress unit is trying to resolve its quandary over regulatory amendment. Although the heads of the regions parties have been named in 2021, the nomination of the DCC members is still pending due to the lack of consensus among the different faction leaders. Besides, a reorganization of the party at the grassroots level had been on hold for the past two years due to differences among the senior leaders, who were looking to appoint their own candidates across the state.
Congressman Matthew Coslandan said the factional leaders’ revolt “disappointed” the party workers, who are fighting in the streets against the policies of the PDP-led RCP government. “The merit of leaders is important in renewing the party machinery. These leaders are against the unity of the party because they only emerged through factions. They want groups for their survival. These senior leaders have to accept the fact that the days of the group are over because the party in Kerala is not in a position to sustain Internal Dispute.This is the time to fight against the state government.
Congress groups led by Chandni and Shinithala, which inherited their legacy from party stalwarts, A. K. Anthony and the late K. Karunakaran, respectively, had long dominated party politics in Kerala, sharing most of the organizational appointments – or government posts when the party was in power – on different levels.
However, congressional defeats in two consecutive assembly elections, in 2016 and 2021, led to a changing of the guard in the state party leadership. When the Sudhakaran-Satheesan team took charge of the party, many young leaders rallied around their efforts to rejuvenate the organisation, even as the Chandy and Chennithala groups began to weaken.
While Chandy’s ailing withdrawal from active politics led to the virtual dissolution of his group, Chinythala’s faction also suffered a setback after some of its leaders teamed up with emerging party leader Shashi Tharoor, a prominent MP.
Although the two factions unite against them, the Sudhakaran-Satisan camps are looking to complete the “transition process” in organization by appointing new chairmen to all bloc and mandalem committees in an effort to establish an upper hand in the state party unit.
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