THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Two power centres have emerged from the once-strong ‘A’ group led by the late Oommen Chandy. If the incumbent faction has UDF convener M M Hassan, senior leader K C Joseph, MPs Benny Behanan and Dean Kuriakose, MLAs P C Vishnunadh and Shafi Parambil, on the other side, Oommen Chandy’s son and Puthupally MLA Chandy Oommen has the ample support of Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, MLA, who had actually distanced himself from the rest of the clan during 2021. A youth brigade has emerged from the shadows of the ‘A’ group which has the blessings of Thiruvanchoor.
The first to sever ties with the ‘A’ group was Tripunithura MLA K Babu when he was embroiled in the bar bribery case in 2016. Despite getting a clean chit from the High Court which enabled Babu to return to the Oommen Chandy-led UDF government as excise minister then, there was friction between them.
The next to distance himself was M K Raghavan, the incumbent Kozhikode MP. He was eager to be included in the high-powered political affairs committee in September 2016 which was allegedly declined by Oommen Chandy. Later, Raghavan expected to get the KPCC working president post which also did not happen.
The third to cut off ties was Thiruvanchoor who had set his eyes on the Congress Legislative Party leader post. Thiruvanchoor hoped to get KPCC president post which also did not materialise. This led him to cozy up to K C Venugopal, national general secretary (organization), and the incumbent state leadership, K Sudhakaran and Opposition Leader V D Satheesan.
“Oommen Chandy was hopeful of returning to power in the 2016 Assembly election. Hence, he didn’t take any steps to bring back his once loyalists to the faction. Later, his health started deteriorating. But he did not pass the buck to his second-in-command. Consequently, all senior group leaders have staked claim now,” a senior Congress MP told TNIE.
But interestingly, now a young brigade under the aegis of Chandy Oommen has emerged. They have the support of Thiruvanchoor who courted controversy this week for allegedly convening a group meeting which has been strongly rubbished by him. A senior ‘A’ group leader told TNIE that they have decided not to comment on factionalism.