THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress' 21-member high-power Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting will be held at Indira Bhavan here on Wednesday. It is surmised that the controversial issues will not be taken up for discussion, lest the focus on the preparations for the local bodies gets distracted.
This is the first meeting after M M Hassan took over as the UDF convener. His predecessor, Benny Behanan, was expected to raise his unceremonious exit he had to make at the PAC meeting, but with the top KPCC leadership deciding not to take up controversial issues, it is doubtful whether it will be discussed.
Behanan had announced his resignation as UDF convener in a dramatic move catching his colleagues unawares. He was peeved at the party leadership as he was not keen to step down for Hassan though he is the Chalakudy MP. Taking a cue from Behanan, K Muraleedharan, MP, also quit from his role as the chairman of KPCC media campaign committee. He had also objected to KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran, Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala and former chief minister Oommen Chandy taking unilateral decisions.
It may be recalled that Kerala is the only state Congress unit to have a PAC which was formed by the AICC leadership to ensure that issues pertaining to the prevalent political scene as well as crucial policy decisions of the party are taken on this platform. But the top KPCC leadership is unhappy with Muraleedharan for revealing the discussions at the PAC meetings to the media. A top PAC member told TNIE that a senior leader like Muraleedharan should maintain the party’s decorum.
“The moment the PAC meeting concludes, the news channels scream about what had transpired. The KPCC leadership need not tell a leader of Muraleedharan’s stature on what and what not to tell the media. Instead of discussing the issues before the media, he should show the decorum to raise those at the party meetings," he said.But Muraleedharan is in no mood to relent. His style of being a corrective force within the party has not gone down well with the top trio. Muraleedharan told TNIE that the priority before the party now is to concentrate on the local body elections.