Hurt Chennithala to Sonia Gandhi: Oommen Chandy’s posting cost dear in Kerala polls
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Pained by his removal from the Opposition leader post, Ramesh Chennithala, in a strongly worded letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, said the party high command’s decision to appoint the election management committee headed by Oommen Chandy alienated Hindu voters from the party and UDF. This was one of the major reasons for the Congress’ poll debacle in the state, he said.
In the letter, he said, “Despite performing efficiently throughout the tenure, that too when the opposition activities were crippled by Covid, I was sidelined and humiliated by appointing an election management committee headed by Chandy at the fag end of my tenure, even after Chandy himself never wanted the same. That was one of the reasons for losing the Hindu votes,” he said.
Chennithala pained over way he was shown door
He also expressed his deep pain and anguish over the way he was shown the door soon after the poll debacle. When the discussions for electing the new Congress legislative party (CLP) leader in the assembly started, Chandy asked Congress general secretary K C Venugopal personally whether there was any decision from the high command to change the CLP leader and the answer was a categorical ‘no’. “I personally asked Mallikarjun Kharge (who headed the fact-finding team) the same question and the answer was again a categorical ‘no’.”
He said if he were given any indication that the party was planning to remove him, he would have gracefully opted out. “Then, I could have publicly announced that I am opting out of the race. This would have been an honourable exit for me. I feel this was deliberately kept out of my purview and selective leaks were made to the media that I had been trying to hold on to the post, damaging my hard-earned reputation. I am deeply pained and anguished by the way the whole issue was handled. It has tarnished my image badly and had bruised my heart.”
Chennithala said that in his career spanning over 40 years, he had a blemish-less track record. There were also planted media reports that he was not enjoying the support of Sonia and Rahul, which pained him a lot, he said in the letter. He also claimed he still enjoys the majority support of the MLAs in the CLP. “But, irrespective of positions, I have always been and will be loyal to you and the party.” Chennithala reminded Sonia that he had not been properly rewarded by the party despite discharging all challenging duties assigned to him over the years.