THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The bickering within the state Congress continues unabated. A day after Kozhikode MP M K Raghavan lashed out at the state leadership’s “unilateral decisions”, senior leader K Muraleedharan came out in his support.
Venting his frustration, Muraleedharan said he has been keeping mum to avoid controversy. “Keeping mum guarantees us grace marks. I agree with M K Raghavan’s sentiments. There is a lack of consultation within the party,” Muraleedharan told reporters in Kozhikode on Saturday. Speaking to TNIE, almost half a dozen MPs shared the sentiment, even as many of them are maintaining restraint due to the party diktat.
Interestingly, the criticism of the state leadership comes at a time when the national general secretary in charge of the state Tariq Anwar has asked senior leaders to avoid making public statements.
“Tariq Anwar had urged Sudhakaran to hold consultations with all MPs when the organisational revamp is taken up. Since the state has 305 AICC members, Sudhakaran can nominate only 31 leaders. But he has named 60 leaders. This has invited criticism from the length and breadth of the party,” Muraleedharan told TNIE.
It is high time party central leadership intervened in issue, says Congress MP
“It was initiated without any consultations,” said Muraleedharan. Another senior MP told TNIE that the high command is aware of the internal bickering, which is turning suicidal. K C Venugopal, national general secretary (organisation), who’s in the state, has taken stock of the troubles brewing in the state unit. The senior MPs are awaiting Venugopal’s next move to resolve the crisis.
Their chief grievance is with Sudhakaran’s “Kannur style of functioning”, where stakeholders are not taken into confidence. “It is high time the high command intervened in the issue, so as to prevent the situation from going out of control. There is hardly 13 months left for the next general election,” a senior MP told TNIE.
However, a top Congress leader told TNIE that group leaders and their managers, as well as MPs, were approached to list their nominees. “They have also accommodated accordingly. Certain leaders want to reinstate their lost authority. It’s they who are kicking up the row bringing instability in the party,” a top leader said. Ever since Raghavan cozied up to Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, he seems to have fallen out with the party leadership, comprising K Sudhakaran and Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan. The party leadership has been looking for an opportunity to nail Raghavan. It is reliably learnt that the state leadership has recommended the central leadership to take action against Raghavan.