THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The letter row that emerged on Wednesday has come as a blessing in disguise for state Congress president K Sudhakaran, who was in the eye of a storm following his controversial remarks supporting RSS.
On Wednesday morning news channels came out with reports that K Sudhakaran wrote to Rahul Gandhi offering to step down, citing health issues. However, both Sudhakaran and other Congress leaders rubbished the same, making it clear that no such letter was written. With the so-called fake letter snowballing into a controversy, the IUML, which was unhappy with Sudhakaran’s remarks, decided to soften its stand against the Congress chief.
Meanwhile, with the letter row, a senior Congress MP, who was in the race for the PCC chief post along with Sudhakaran but lost it between the cup and the lip, has come under the scanner. It’s learnt that the leader, who is very close to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, is keen to succeed Sudhakaran who is technically holding the interim charge now. Sudhakaran suspects the handiwork of this leader behind the fake letter.
“This senior leader has been trying every trick up his sleeve to win the party president post. He wanted to take advantage of Sudhakaran’s illness. Also he was trying to cash in on the resentment within the UDF following Sudhakaran’s repeated controversial remarks. However it seems, his plan boomeranged and the letter row turned in favour of Sudhakaran at the end,” said a leader close to Sudhakaran.
High drama prevailed on Wednesday morning when news channels aired a report that Sudhakaran had offered to step down, and wrote to Rahul Gandhi citing health reasons and lack of cooperation from the Opposition leader. Since Sudhakaran was in the hospital in Kannur, his loyalists immediately denied the reports.
Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala was the first to rubbish the report. “I spoke to Sudhakaran. He denied sending such a letter to the Congress central leadership. This is a mere media creation,” said Chennithala. Opposition leader V D Satheesan warned of dire consequences for repeatedly targeting the Congress. He was peeved as his name was also dragged into the issue. On Tuesday, Satheesan had come out against Sudhakaran for his controversial remarks.
Even as the clamour for Sudhakaran’s resignation has come to an end for the time being, a few youth leaders are of the view that the state Congress chief’s controversial statements hamper the party’s prospects.