KOCHI/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The recent Youth Congress election marked the decline of traditional factions, and the emergence of new ones in the Congress in Kerala. National general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal emerged the clear winner, with his loyalists bagging several state-level functionary and district president posts.
Former Leader of Oppsition Ramesh Chennithala’s nominees won in three districts, while former ‘A’ group leader Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan’s associates won in Kottayam. The big picture, however, was the setback to factions led by state Congress chief K Sudhakaran and Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan. Although Rahul Mamkoottathil, of the ‘A’ group, was elected state president, Venugopal’s protegees secured the majority of posts in the state committee.
Aritha Babu, who was third in the election to the state president, and Vysakh S Darshan and Janeesh O J, who were elected vice-presidents, are KC nominees. Aritha, who received 31,930 votes, will be appointed a vice-president. The KC faction managed to win district president posts in Malappuram and Pathanamthitta, considered strongholds of the ‘A’ faction. Hareesh Mohanan, backed by K Sudhakaran loyalist, DCC president Jose Valoor, was able to secure a win in Thrissur with the support of the KC faction.
The election also saw new dynamics in play. The ‘A’ group, which won several key positions, managed to win six district president posts in the absence of Oommen Chandy. In Malappuram, the ‘A’ faction supported the KC faction, while in Kottayam, the nominees of Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan won district president and other posts. Idukki and Kottayam districts played host to a contest between ‘A’ group nominees. Sudhakaran suffered a heavy blow in his home turf of Kannur, where his nominee Farsin Majeed lost to Vijil Mohanan of the ‘A’ group.
Satheesan’s nominee also lost in Ernakulam, and the results were on hold. The Chennithala faction won three president posts in Kollam, Alappuzha and Kasargod. Moreover, candidates it supported won in Thrissur and Kozhikode. While the ‘A’ group managed to almost maintain status quo, what stood out was the rising influence of Chandy Oommen. Besides bagging a vice president and Kottayam district president posts, his loyalists won six state general secretary and 12 state secretary posts.
The incumbent state YC chief, Shafi Parambil, who is also the Palakkad MLA, had Oommen Chandy to thank for his rise in politics. But after the former CM fell ill, Shafi literally hijacked the faction with the support of Kundara MLA P C Vishnunadh. When YC district office-bearers were appointed, Shafi had allegedly not taken his mentor’s son Chandy Oommen, who is now the Puthupally MLA, into confidence. But senior ‘A’ group leaders did not confront Shafi on the issue.
This forced Chandy Oommen and his supporters to field their candidates. But a senior ‘A’ group leader denied that Shafi had hijacked the faction. However, a source close to Chandy Oommen said it was after they decided to field separate candidates, that ‘A’ group leadership started liaising with them. “But we decided to take a non-biased approach,” the source told TNIE.
Interestingly, Venugopal despite ‘commanding’ the party did not directly canvas youth leaders. Instead, a second rung group led by Wandoor MLA Anilkumar called the shots and managed to get four districts.
Anilkumar stressed that there were no factional activities, but expressed concern about fake ID cards being widely used in the YC membership campaign. “Fake IDs led to 2.16 lakh invalid votes. Malappuram district alone saw 30, 000 invalid votes,” Anilkumar told TNIE.