THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Just when the Congress has been on a song against the state government which is embroiled in a series of corruption allegations, the move by MPs Benny Behanan and K Muraleedharan to resign from the posts of UDF convener and chairman of KPCC media campaign committee, respectively, has rattled the state party leadership.
Though Behanan’s resignation from the UDF convener post was on expected lines, Muraleedharan’s move against the trio — KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran, Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala and former CM Oommen Chandy — in protest against their stand for not taking him and other senior leaders into confidence on party matters was more dramatic.
Usually, Sundays are a dull day for the KPCC leadership, but the announcements by Behanan and Muraleedharan caught them unawares. The first jolt was from Behanan, 68, who announced his resignation at Indira Bhawan in Ernakulam.
“No one had asked me to resign from the UDF convener post. My integrity has been at stake after some leaders with the help of the media have been baying for my blood. I value my individuality more and I have informed Oommen Chandy about my decision to resign,” Behanan told TNIE.
Former KPCC chief M M Hassan is expected to succeed as UDF convener. Ever since Hassan was denied the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat by his own leader Chandy, as the latter fought for a younger leader and then Kozhikode DCC president T Siddique, it was the UDF convener post which fitted the bill for him. But later, Rahul Gandhi contested from Wayanad and when the KPCC was revamped, Siddique was elevated to vice-president post.
On Sunday evening, Muraleedharan dropped a bombshell when he shot off his resignation letter to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, bypassing Mullappally. In the letter, Muraleedharan claimed that following the principle of ‘one man, one post’, he has expressed his wish to resign from the post of the chairman of KPCC media campaign committee. But he told TNIE that he decided to resign in protest against the “trio front” in the party.