THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It looks like the ripples created by the controversial spat by the two top brass of the Congress state leadership during the press meet held after the Puthuppally bypoll win have not fizzled out. The state leadership was caught unawares when senior leader A K Antony came down heavily on them. At the party office-bearers’ meeting held at Indira Bhavan on Thursday, Antony criticised both K Sudhakaran and V D Satheesan for their spat in front of a microphone which went viral on who would address the media first on September 8 after the Puthuppally bypoll victory.
Much to the embarrassment of Sudhakaran and Satheesan, Antony in his speech said that they are the ones who should be resolving any crisis that grips the party. He maintained that they should support each other and should also ensure that the leaders are taken into confidence. A senior Congress leader told TNIE that Antony’s piece of advice came as a huge surprise to the two leaders.
“Usually, a leader of Antony’s reputation would not show his ire or disappointment against the leadership openly in party forums. Instead, he would speak to them in private. But Antony realised that the viral video of the duo had ruffled the sentiments of ordinary party workers which led him to speak at the party meeting. The message has been clearly conveyed to the duo,” said a senior Congress leader.
During the half an hour that Antony attended the office-bearers’ meeting, he reminded them that if there is a lack of cooperation between the two, it is the party that will be affected badly. “There should not be any misunderstanding just because I am saying this. The first thing is that both Sudhakaran and Satheesan should work together,” he said.
The leadership also decided to hold a slew of protests against the LDF government which included statewide protests against the malpractice in the cooperative sector in the wake of the Karuvannur bank scam. The UDF is scheduled to lay siege to the Secretariat on October 18. Ahead of the massive protest, the party will also be holding padayatras from October 14 to 16.
Meanwhile, Sudhakaran’s Kerala Yatra ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be kicked off from Manjeswaram in Kasaragod by mid-January where he will tour all the 140 Assembly constituencies and conclude the yatra in Thiruvananthapuram by mid-February.
No truck with LDF, says Sudhakaran
Speaking to reporters later, Sudhakaran said that under no circumstances would the Congress join hands with the LDF to hold joint protests or meetings. This comes after the Congress and IUML decided not to participate in the cooperative protection committee meeting held in Kozhikode on Thursday. The Congress leadership wanted to ensure that their adversary does not get a reprieve at a time when the Karuvannur scam has hit them hard. “The UDF-led banks will not cooperate with the LDF government’s decision to garner funds from primary cooperative banks. Our policy is that whoever has committed a sin, he is bound to suffer”, said Sudhakaran.