THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The rift within the Congress has deepened in the wake of the ‘Puthuyuga Yatra’, which was aimed at uniting the party and the UDF ahead of the assembly elections. Differences further surfaced after Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan stayed away from the crucial steering committee meeting on Sunday convened to discuss the party’s list of candidates.
Steering committee chairman Madhusudan Mistry had been in Thiruvananthapuram since Saturday to convene the meeting. However, Congress sources and the opposition leader’s office confirmed that Satheesan left the state capital early on Sunday morning.
Party sources said the development followed a series of attempts to overshadow the yatra, which was led by Satheesan.
“On the day of the culmination of the yatra, certain leaders ensured that Rahul Gandhi had a busy schedule in the morning, so as to divert the attention of news channels from the event,” a Satheesan associate said. “In addition, reports suddenly emerged that K C Venugopal would contest from Alappuzha constituency. We believe this was part of a concerted attempt to shift attention,” he said.
The Satheesan faction also alleged that there had been efforts to dampen the spirit of the yatra from the very beginning. Though Satheesan submitted a list of national leaders who should address the yatra at each district centre, the high command did not respond initially.
They viewed this as an attempt to undermine the yatra, as the absence of national leaders could have affected crowd mobilisation. However, thousands of people attended meetings during the yatra, indicating strong public support. National leaders were deputed only after the yatra entered south Kerala, they said.
Meanwhile, several leaders said the yatra has once again triggered criticism of Satheesan’s autocratic style of functioning. “When the first set of posters was printed, there was only Satheesan’s picture adorning them,” said a UDF leader. “They were forced to print new posters after senior leaders, including from the Indian Union Muslim League, intervened,” he added.
At one stage, the high command had to intervene due to the low visibility accorded to UDF convener Adoor Prakash, who, when approached, reportedly asked leaders to exclude him from the yatra. Though he cited various reasons, leaders close to him said that he was upset over being ignored.
Leaders also alleged that the Satheesan camp sought to postpone the centenary celebrations of the historic meeting between Sree Narayana Guru and Mahatma Gandhi in Kollam organised jointly by the party and Sivagiri Mutt.
They reportedly tried to reason that since most of the workers from Kollam to Kottayam would be attending the March 6 centenary in Kollam, this would affect attendance to the March 7 culmination of the yatra. Both programmes were inaugurated by Rahul Gandhi.
“This has further worsened the rift. At one point, Satheesan was reminded that if the event on March 6 was to be cancelled, Rahul’s presence the next day cannot be assured. Thus, it was decided to reduce expenditure and the number of attendees,” a KPCC office-bearer said.