THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The controversy surrounding the appointment of Congress block presidents has brought the two factions within the party together, both seeking the intervention of the High Command to resolve the issue. Congress state president K Sudhakaran announced the list of block presidents, excluding Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam, and Malappuram, late on Friday night.
However, former state presidents M M Hassan and Ramesh Chennithala, who are factional leaders, were not consulted, leading to discontent among the factional leaders.
Sudhakaran and the leader of the opposition V D Satheesan faced criticism for not involving them in the decision-making process before announcing the list.
In response to demands from party MPs, the High Command urged Sudhakaran and Satheesan to form a seven-member monitoring committee to finalise the block presidents, mandalam presidents, and district committee office bearers. The monitoring committee engaged in extensive discussions to finalise the list of block presidents.
A senior leader from the monitoring committee revealed that they reached a unanimous agreement on names for 170 block committees. For the remaining 113 block committees, the committee proposed two to three names. Sudhakaran and Satheesan spent three days dealing with the contentious list, while Hassan and Chennithala awaited the call from the state leadership, which never came.
“The conduct of the State leadership is highly deplorable. We have approached Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and national general secretary in-charge of the state Tariq Anwar seeking their intervention in the issue. While the leadership has the right to execute their plans, they should have consulted former state Congress chiefs and senior leaders,” expressed a senior leader from the state-level monitoring committee.
The ‘A’ group within the party is extremely dissatisfied with the list. However, in light of the Odisha train tragedy, the group leaders have decided to maintain calm.
Sources indicate that senior MPs Benny Behanan and M K Raghavan will express their concerns on Sunday. The ‘A’ group is particularly upset with the leadership for introducing new faces in Wayanad instead of loyalists. Given the possibility of a by-election in Wayanad, which has six blocks, tensions are high within the ‘A’ group camp.
K Sudhakaran stated that his aim is to ensure the appointment of all 283 block presidents without much controversy. Speaking to reporters in Kannur, Sudhakaran mentioned his intention to announce the remaining list for the three districts in the coming days. However, with threats from factional leaders looming, it remains to be seen whether Sudhakaran’s plans will be implemented or not.