THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid the ongoing political slugfest over the failure of the UDF candidate in Chengannur by-election in various forums, the senior leaders in the Congress come up with a course-correction strategy for the party, while criticising a section who targeted a few leaders over the failure.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala on Saturday said “as the leader of the opposition, I own up responsibility for the severe drubbing of the party in Chengannur,” he said. But the party workers should remember the Chengannur failure was the lone failure of the party in the last 12 years of the history of the bypolls in Kerala.
Addressing the KSU workers at the 61st foundation day celebrations of the KSU at KPCC headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, he said putting the responsibility on one or two persons is not tenable when everyone is equally responsible for the poor performance of the party.
There were no factional feud in the bypoll campaign in Chengannur and everyone unitedly faced the election. It is not fair to single out a person and attack him over the failure, he said, in an apparent reply to former KPCC chief V M Sudheeran, who criticised the leadership. He also accepted there were organisational shortcomings in the party and the need of the hour is to make the party fit after addressing the shortcomings. He also slammed social media campaigns by a section against the party. He made the comments in the presence of KSU leaders who overtly and covertly criticised the party functionaries.
Congress leader Oommen Chandy said a defeat is always a defeat and it is not fair to counter it by showing some statistics. Despite the good campaign, the party candidate failed in Chengannur and everyone has a responsibility for the defeat. The party will find the reasons for the failure and would go on a course-correction. Every party worker in the state should make this as an opportunity to introspect and express their opinions in appropriate party forums to strengthen the party, he said.
KPCC president M M Hassan who addressed the gathering said victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan. The ongoing slugfest in social media suggests some leaders have no role in the poor performance of the party.