THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The tug of war between Opposition Leader VD Satheesan and his predecessor Ramesh Chennithala has now reached the doorstep of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Chennithala is scheduled to meet Sonia on Monday following a whisper campaign that he was the mastermind behind the INTUC's protest rallies and also in instigating Pala MLA and Democratic Congress Kerala leader Mani C Kappan's public outburst against the UDF.
Satheesan has apprised the Congress central leadership of the obstacles being created by the rival camp.
However, the Chennithala camp has denied that he has any intention to raise complaints against the party state leadership. A Chennithala loyalist said the senior leader’s Delhi visit is a routine one during which the prevalent political issues would be discussed.
But the grapevine is that Chennithala is keen to convey that even after nine months of assuming office, Congress state president K Sudhakaran and Satheesan are yet to complete the organisational revamping which includes the formation of the district Congress committees.
"Chennithala is also expected to raise the issue of the party Kerala unit lagging behind the other state units in the membership campaign. His intention is to convey to the central leadership, which had rooted for Sudhakaran and Satheesan in reviving the party after its performance in the last assembly elections, has let the workers down," a senior Congress leader told The New Indian Express.
Sudhakaran apologising to the state office-bearers and district Congress chiefs at their online meeting on Saturday has also not gone down well with a cross section of the party workers. His silence on the INTUC leadership targeting Satheesan had created issues in the Satheesan camp.
This was raised in the online meeting by working president T Siddique and general secretaries Deepthi Mary Varghese, MJ Job and Pazhakulam Madhu who share good camaraderie with Satheesan.
National secretaries to reach state tomorrow
The three national secretaries in charge of the state - PV Mohan (Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Palakkad), Ivan D'Souza (Thrissur, Ernakulam, Idukki, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta) and P Viswanathan (Alappuzha, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram) - will be arriving in the state on Tuesday to energise the general secretaries in expediting the membership campaign.