THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Congress leaders from the state at the Chintan Shivir in Rajasthan’s Udaipur rallied behind Rahul Gandhi urging him to take the mantle of the party presidentship. However, Congress state president and MP K Sudhakaran told TNIE that Gandhi has not opened his mind.
The Kerala delegation hogged the limelight on the valedictory day of the three-day brainstorming session as the high-power political affairs committee formed by the state unit during V M Sudheeran’s tenure as the state president in 2016 is getting replicated across the country.
Of the 15 Congress MPs from the state, Benny Behanan, Hibi Eden and K Muraleedharan had stayed away from the Chintan Shivir. If Behanan and Hibi were busy with the Thrikkakara byelection campaigning, Muraleedharan had prior commitments in his Vadakara constituency. The state delegation of MPs and other senior leaders who attended the Shivir urged Rahul to take up the party president’s post.
Sudhakaran told TNIE that he urged Gandhi to rescind his decision to step down from the president’s post following the party’s Lok Sabha poll debacle in 2019. “Even a few of the G-23 leaders also urged Gandhi to helm the party. We all had a serious conversation with him and he was convinced. However, he did not reveal his mind. I am hopeful that he will listen to the leaders’ call this time,” said Sudhakaran.
Earlier this year, K C Venugopal, national general secretary (organisation), was inundated with requests from party leaders and members from the state urging him to inform Gandhi of the need to take out a padayatra across the country to revitalise the party. As this has now been officially announced, it has brought cheers to the Congress in the state. Meanwhile, the decision to replicate the PAC across the country has also made the Kerala leaders proud.
But unfortunately, the PAC has more or less lost its relevance in the state unit ever since Sudhakaran maintained that it is a mere advisory committee. The PAC was constituted for the first time by a state unit when Sudheeran was at the helm of the state party leadership. Now, Sudheeran is no longer a member of the PAC after he stepped down in protest against the alleged unilateral decisions being taken by the incumbent leadership.