THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as the Congress decision to suspend him from the party’s primary membership has come as a setback for Rahul Mamkootathil, at the end of the day it was the majority opinion in the party that he should not be subjected to extreme disciplinary action that helped in saving his MLA post.
The KPCC arrived at this decision after a marathon discussion that Sunny Joseph had with a slew of leaders including Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan, KPCC working presidents A P Anil Kumar, P C Vishnunath, and Shafi Parambil. Sunny also held discussions with 20 senior leaders including three women leaders, working committee members from the state except A K Antony and Shashi Tharoor, and UDF convenor Adoor Prakash.
While Satheesan demanded tough disciplinary action against Rahul inside the party, his supporters were demanding resignation from MLA post outside. However, the majority of leaders declined to concede to his demand. As the All-India Congress Committee had sent the ball to the KPCC to take a decision, the core group including Sunny Joseph, Anil Kumar, Shafi Parambil and Vishnunath started deliberation.
“The opinion that emerged was that this extreme step will not help the party in the near future,” a senior leader told TNIE.
“We admit that Rahul’s resignation as Youth Congress president was a moral step. However, even after three days of waiting not a single written complaint reached KPCC. And no single police complaint was registered against him. Rahul also alleged conspiracy behind it by producing an audio clip. Hence, we reached the conclusion that asking him to resign the MLA post is politically not right at this moment. If allegations are proven wrong later it could not be corrected,” he said.
On Sunday night, Adoor Prakash reportedly conveyed to the KPCC leadership that asking Rahul to resign for popular applause will not be good for the party as there was no evidence against him. He also told them not to act upon the criticism raised by political opponents. Majority of leaders conveyed their support to the leadership.
Though Ramesh Chennithala had demanded resignation of the MLA, he changed the stand later after discussions with KPCC president. As the AICC also gave green signal to the stand taken by Sunny Joseph, Anil Kumar, Shafi Parambil and Adoor Prakash, the KPCC president called Satheesan on Sunday night and explained the same to him. Among the leaders, Vishnunath took a ‘neutral’ stand by not taking any position.
Meanwhile, there was severe criticism against Satheesan within the party for pushing the party into a difficult position and calling the shot unilaterally. “He tried to take credit for the situation by giving hints to the media that tough action will be taken. Leaders within his close circle also demanded resignation in news channels. Everyone knew Satheesan’s close relations with Rahul and how he supported the latter. Satheesan tried to play the role of a saint and it failed miserably,” a political affairs committee member said.
The KPCC leadership is also not happy with the way news about their decision reached the news channels within hours.