THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After days of bickering, peace descended on the state Congress on Monday as the diplomatic channel opened by VD Satheesan helped resolve the remaining misunderstandings between the new leadership and the group chieftains in the party.Satheesan and Congress state chief K Sudhakaran held talks with ex-chief minister Oommen Chandy and former opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala for more than an hour. After the meeting, Sudhakaran told reporters that all issues have been resolved.
Sources said Chandy and Chennithala who lead the prominent ‘A’ and ‘I’ groups, resepectively, in the party, did not raise any fresh demands during the meeting. A senior Congress leader said there was no serious complaint other than excluding them from the final round of talks to decide on district chiefs. Sudhakaran assured them that such lapses would not be repeated.
He also informed Chandy and Chennithala that an explanation has been sought from Kasaragod MP Rajmohan Unnithan, who had sarcastically asked the two to form their own party if they wanted their nominees as district chiefs. The leadership also settled the grievances of UDF constituent RSP on Monday when they assured action against a section of Congress leaders who the RSP felt were responsible for the party’s defeat.
RSP satisfied after meeting with Cong state leadership
The UDF high-power meeting held after Congress-RSP talks was cordial and it decided to convene a daylong session of all constituents on September 22 to examine the assembly poll debacle. During the discussion, Sudhakaran told RSP leaders that leaders who were found responsible for RSP’s defeat won’t be considered for organisational revamp. RSP state secretary A A Azeez expressed satisfaction after the meeting and said discussion would continue. The five regional-level subcommittees that probed UDF’s election debacle had already submitted their findings to the leadership.
“The issues raised by the two leaders pertaining to the district chiefs’ appointments have been resolved. We will work united as the differences of opinion aired by Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala have been addressed. There will not be any further talks on this issue”, said Sudhakaran. AICC general secretary Tariq Anwar who had planned to reach here on Wednesday for mediation talks postponed his visit following the new developments. Satheesan said he initiated discussions after consulting with the party president.
“All issues are resolved. After preparing a schedule for the second and third stage of organisational revamping, we will complete the process without delay,” said Satheesan. Later, Satheesan told TNIE that Unnithan has already given his explanation to the party president. The state leadership will consider Unnithan’s explanation along with the explanations submitted by suspended leaders K Sivadasan Nair and K P Anilkumar. Sources said no further action would be initiated against these leaders as the issues have been settled amicably.