THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The feud in the Congress over the local body poll debacle has refused to die down. A day after the members of the political affairs committee (PAC) came down heavily on the leadership at its meeting, KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran on Friday harped on harmony and collective responsibility, and urged senior party members to refrain from making criticism in public, but they continued their tirade.
Mullappally said he, as KPCC chief, owns up the responsibility for the poll debacle. “It’s sad to say that I was mercilessly attacked from all sides for the party’s failure. When the UDF won 19 out of the 20 seats in the last Lok Sabha elections, I said the victory was the result of a collective effort. I still believe in collective leadership. It’s true that there were some lapses. I own up the responsibility for the failure. At the same time, don’t forget the fact that except the 2010 local body polls, the party couldn’t gain a clear upperhand in any of the local body polls in the state.
And I’m not too disappointed over the performance of the party in the election,” said Mullappally. Shanimol Osman, MLA, the lone woman member of the PAC at the meeting which was highly critical of the functioning of the leadership, was quoted as asking: “Other than some boring press conferences, what has the party leadership done to keep its vote base intact?” “If the senior leaders continue to scratch the backs of each other, the time is not far away when the rank and file start questioning the leaders,” she said. MLA V D Satheesan said if no major course correction is made, the next PAC meeting can discuss the reasons for the assembly poll failure.
Congress leaders have no right to engage in mudslinging: Pandalam Sudhakaran
Another senior Congress leader Pandalam Sudhakaran said the party leaders who criticised each other and the leadership for the poll debacle have no right to engage in mudslinging. “They themselves are responsible for the failure. They were not ready for compromise when the candidates were selected and had been arguing for their groups. Now, after the party met with the failure, these leaders are acting as self-styled honest leaders,” Sudhakaran said in a Facebook post.
MP K Muraleedharan, who made some of the strongest remarks against the leadership since the debacle, said there is nothing wrong in airing criticism at the PAC meeting. “Criticism helps the party become stronger. The next PAC meeting will discuss the reasons for the debacle of the party in detail,” he said. The PAC meeting expressed disappointment over losing its traditional vote base across the state. The leadership should take urgent steps to stop the flocking of minority votes to the LDF fold and upper class votes to BJP, it said.