THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Following Tariq Anwar, Congress national general secretary in charge of the state, submitting his report on the reasons behind the assembly poll debacle to party president Sonia Gandhi, the ‘I’ group has decided to oppose his findings. After Tariq Anwar reported that there were disagreements between the two factions which led to the dismal failure of the Congress, senior ‘I’ group leader Pandalam Sudhakaran openly criticised it. Meanwhile, rumours are rife that Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala will be removed and given a central party position, which his loyalists have denied.
Tariq Anwar reported to Sonia about the rampant factionalism which saw Congress state president Mullappally Ramachandran not getting adequate support in the run-up to the elections. It is reliably learnt that he has reported that leaders of the ‘A’ and ‘I’ factions were not keen on taking everyone along. This finding is what had ruffled the feathers of Chennithala camp and made Pandalam Sudhakaran lash out at Tariq Anwar. Sudhakaran told TNIE that Congress groups always had disagreements right from the days of K Karunakaran.
“But this time, there was an exception. The entire party machinery had worked unitedly. The pandemic had come as a boon for Pinarayi Vijayan and his government which the Congress and UDF could not counter. Hence, Tariq’s findings are nothing but absurd,” said Sudhakaran, a close confidant of Chennithala.
Sudhakaran also opposed the debate taking place on removing Chennithala from the Opposition leader’s post as the latter had discharged his duties to the best of his abilities.
This is the second time after Karunakaran that the ‘I’ group has decided to revolt openly against the Congress high command. But incidentally, the rival ‘A’ camp led by Oommen Chandy also backs Chennithala this time. However, the Congress high command may not trust the Kerala leaders blindly any longer after the humiliating defeat in the assembly elections. On Tuesday, K C Venugopal, party national general secretary (organisation), appointed a five-member fact-finding commission led by Ashok Chavan to study the poll drubbing in four states and Puducherry.
The other members are Salman Khurshid, Manish Tewari, Vincent H Pala and Jothi Mani. The commission has been directed to submit its report within two weeks. “The commission will come up with remedial measures after holding deliberations with the Congress candidates and senior leaders. The news on Chennithala being packed off to New Delhi is nothing but baseless. It is like humiliating the five-member commission as an outcome is expected only after they submit their report before the Congress high command,” another Chennithala loyalist and Congress state vice-president Sooranad Rajasekharan told TNIE.