Restructuring of feeder organisations leads to more trouble in Congress; Balram, Sajeendran quit posts
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Resentment is brewing within the Congress state unit and leaders are openly expressing their dissatisfaction with the organisational restructuring of feeder organisations like the Mahila Congress and the KSU. State president K Sudhakaran has lodged a strong complaint with the High Command, expressing his displeasure at the disregard of his recommendations in the final appointment lists. It is reliably learnt that, in response to Sudhakaran’s grievance, the Congress High Command has intervened in the appointment process of the Mahila Congress and the KSU, leading to modifications being made.
V P Sajeendran, the state vice-president who was responsible for the Mahila Congress, resigned from his position on Saturday as a mark of protest. Similarly, V T Balram, who is in charge of the KSU, has also resigned from his post and expressed his strong displeasure to the leadership.
In a verbal complaint to the national leadership, Sudhakaran alleged that the new list had been released by completely ignoring the merit list approved by him. He maintained that the controversies coming out when the crucial Lok Sabha elections are around the corner would not be beneficial for the party. Last December, Sudhakaran approached All India Mahila Congress president Netta D’ Souza, seeking wider consultations in finalizing the Mahila Congress state committee and district presidents.
He felt antagonized towards Mahila Congress state president Jebi Mather for not taking the stakeholders into confidence. On Thursday, the central leadership came out with the list of the new set of district presidents. Soon, Mahila Congress district president hopeful Sunitha Vijayan, who owes allegiance to the ‘I’ faction, raised objections.
She lashed out at Jebi Mather and Thiruvananthapuram District Congress Committee office bearers. Though Sunitha got promoted as state general secretary from the secretary post, she refused to accept the same and openly challenged the leadership on the appointment of Gayatri Nair as Thiruvananthapuram district president. The disgruntled leader alleged that the ‘I’ group had been completely sidelined, and instead, national general secretary KC Venugopal’s nominees were squeezed in. But the Venugopal camp has rubbished this allegation.
Jebi Mather took charge as Mahila Congress state president in January 2022, and the revamping should have been completed by last November.
Adding to the trouble, the appointments to KSU State Committee and district presidents have also snowballed into a major controversy.
“A committee comprising 80 KSU leaders was initially submitted before the NSUI leadership in New Delhi. Later, it was brought down to 45. But Delhi demanded that it should come down to 25, which did not happen. Also, violating norms, married leaders have been included in the committee,” a source told TNIE.