THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: If Congress insiders are to be believed, the issue over Aryadan Shoukath has more to do with national general secretary K C Venugopal trying to capture the organisation than the pro-Palestine rally. Besides Malappuram, other districts like Pathanamthitta, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram too face the issue, they say.
“Though Venugopal has no group officially, his personal interest in appointing local leaders in important organisational positions is creating issues,” a senior ‘A’ group leader told TNIE. “The Satheesan-Sudhakaran axis is conniving so that the ‘big brother’ remains happy. During the time of Aryadan Muhammad, 90 percent of office-bearers in Malappuram remained with the ‘A’ group. Now, A P Anil Kumar, who switched allegiance to KC from Ramesh Chennithala, controls group activities in Malappuram.”
The ‘A’ group alleged that the issue began after V S Joy, who deserted the ‘A’ group for the KC camp, was appointed the district president bypassing ‘A’ group leaders. Of the 32 block presidents, the ‘A’ group had 24. But now, that number has come down to eight. The ‘A’ group has 72 mandalam presidents. But they allege that, at the behest of the KC-Anil Kumar duo, the state leadership has unilaterally declared 14 mandalam presidents.
A Malappuram district office-bearer from the ‘A’ group said the district consensus committee had earlier come to an understanding on the 14 mandalam presidents. “However, that understanding was breached and a list announced unilaterally. The leadership also declared unilaterally the names of nine mandalam presidents, the decision on which was put in abeyance because of disputes. This is the root cause of all issues. However, the state leadership is manipulating the issue and painting the rally as the root cause,” he said.
Although the Congress state president had asked the mandalam presidents in the disputed places not to take charge, the ‘A’ group alleges that all nine mandalam presidents took charge with the blessing of the district president. On Monday, Aryadan Shoukath reportedly handed over a petition on the matter to the chairman of the disciplinary committee, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan.
“They (Sudhakaran and Satheesan) say there is no group interest in constituting mandalam committees. However, in Pathanamthitta where the reconstitution is almost complete, the ‘A’ group has been stripped of almost all posts. The situation is the same in Kannur and Kasaragod,” said another ‘A’ group leader.
The delay in revoking the suspensions of three ‘A’ group leaders -- former Pathanamthitta district Congress president Babu George, former district panchayat president Saji Chacko and Thiruvananthapuram district treasurer A A Latheef -- is also seen as a reflection of the state leadership’s mentality towards the group.
In the Karunagapally constituency, the tussle related to K C Venugopal’s alleged intervention in determining the mandalam president had come out at the Congress’ Kollam convention. C R Mahesh, MLA of the ‘I’ group, had openly asked the state president at the convention whether he should continue being a legislator under the circumstances. The ‘I’ group led by Ramesh Chennithala alleged that the group equation and balance had been toppled by the leadership to appoint KC group nominees. At the meeting, Sudhakaran assured Mahesh that the grievance would be considered.
But the ‘I’ group says nothing has happened since. In Thiruvananthapuram, the lone Congress MLA of the ‘A’ group. A Vincent. is also unhappy. It is alleged that 13 of the 14 mandalam presidents were declared unilaterally. However, Congress state general secretary K Jayanth dismissed charges of intervention against Venugopal.
“This is a baseless allegation. He has never intervened in the reorganisation. In his home turf of Payyanur in Kannur, an ‘A’ group nominee Jayarajan is the mandalam president. Venugopal never said a word against that decision,” he said. Venugopal’s confidants also pointed out that Karunagapally is part of the Alappuzha LS constituency with Venugopal having a long relationship with the workers there.“He has every right to express his interest there,” they said.