THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Keen to tame tempers and the angst of the rank and file and Congress local leaders over the UDF rout in the Assembly election, the KPCC executive meet held on Monday ended up being a mere reportage by DCC presidents on the polls.
Apparently, there was no discussion worth its salt on Monday, not even a preliminary assessment on what actually went wrong with the party to court such a devastating defeat. However, it has been decided to hold a rare ‘camp executive meet’ on June 4 and 5, in which, the Congress contestants in 87 Assembly segments will participate.
The decision to curtail a detailed discussion on the poll rout was learnt to have been taken by the troika Oommen Chandy, Ramesh Chennithala and KPCC president V M Sudheeran prior to the 105-member KPCC executive meet.
“The two-day camp executive will analyse various aspects which led to the rout, assembly segment wise. On the second day, steps to strengthen various arms of the party at the grassroots level will be discussed and put to action,” KPCC president V M Sudheeran told a post-meet media briefing.
“The party does not want to downplay the drubbing in the polls. It is indeed a heavy defeat. The camp executive will also come up with a road map for effective functioning of the party, setting eyes on the next Lok Sabha polls,” he said.
The idea of holding a camp executive was mooted by Ramesh Chennithala, when demand was cropping up for discussions at Monday’s meet itself. It will be held at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Development Studies, situated near Neyyar dam.
“The people’s mandate to the Congress was to sit in the Opposition. While discharging its duties constructively, the UDF will extend all co-operation to the LDF Government led by Pinarayi Vijayan, which will be sworn in on Wednesday,” he said.
The meeting expressed serious concern over the political tension and violence that erupted soon after the LDF’s victory in the polls, he said. “As many as 142 instances of political violence have been reported in the past three to four days. Four Congress offices were vandalised, including one in Pinarayi. The BJP and the CPM activists are behind all the violence. Stern measures have to be initiated against such acts,” Sudheeran demanded.
CLP leader
Sudheeran said that Chandy, Chennithala and he himself held talks with the Congress high command on Monday on the selection of CLP leader in Kerala. “We’re waiting for directives. A decision will be taken soon. Selection of an opposition leader is not an urgent matter,” he said.
‘No liquor policy backlash in polls’
T’Puram: KPCC president V M Sudheeran on Monday asserted that the liquor policy had not backfired for the UDF in the polls. “There has been a concerted campaign at the instance of the liquor lobby and it’s wrong,” he said.