THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Close on the heels of KP Anilkumar, Congress former state general secretary G Rathikumar quit the party and joined the CPM on Wednesday. CM Pinarayi Vijayan said disgruntled Congress leaders joining CPM is a healthy trend.
Rathikumar, who had begun his political career with the KSU, slammed AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, state chief K Sudhakaran and working president Kodikunnil Suresh for destroying the party. CPM politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan welcomed Rathikumar at AKG Centre. He was accompanied by CPM Kollam district secretary S Sudevan, who had been instrumental in initiating talks with Rathikumar.
His resignation from the party happened a few hours after Opposition Leader V D Satheesan’s statement that nobody is indispensable to the party. “Even if I leave tomorrow, nothing will happen to the party. When legendary leader K Karunakaran left the Congress, nothing happened and we could revive the party,” said Satheesan.
Rathikumar’s resignation, eighth from the party in the past six months, has fuelled speculation that more second-rung leaders may join the CPM. The Congress state leadership’s decision on Wednesday to not have leaders who had been in a party post for five years in district or state committees has left several of them disgruntled.
CPM not persuading anyone to quit Congress: Kodiyeri
Kodiyeri said the door of the CPM is not open to all who quit Congress. “We’ll decide on a case-by case-basis by analysing the profile and work of the leader,” Kodiyeri told reporters here. He denied rumours that the CPM is trying to poach leaders from Congress.
“They are quitting on their own. We are not persuading anyone to quit,” said Kodiyeri, adding that as a political party, the CPM is working towards broadening its mass base. Reacting to the trend, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the recent developments could be seen as a natural outcome as the Congress is disintegrating. “When leaders had left Congress in the past, they planned to join BJP. At that time, the leadership tried and dissuaded some of them.
Those in the Congress know well that the party is not capable of taking on BJP which is implementing anti-people policies. They know that the Left is taking a strong and steady stand against BJP. That is why leaders there now cooperate with us. This is a healthy trend,” Pinarayi told at a press conference here. On Wednesday, senior leaders of the state Congress leadership were huddled at Indira Bhavan to finalise the guidelines meant for the second stage of the party revamping, which would see new committees at the district and state levels.
Replacing jumbo committees, 51-member panels at the district and state level will come into existence. Congress leader Sooranad Rajasekharan told TNIE that defection of leaders to CPM has triggered a debate among the grassroots-level workers of the party. Former chief minister Oommen Chandy refused to react on the issue. But, his loyalist MP Benny Behanan, who had not favoured the new leadership, extended a word of caution to them.”I don’t support those leaders who have left the Congress and joined the CPM. But the leadership should take it as an opportunity to introspect why these leaders are leaving the Congress,” said Behanan.