THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: State Congress president K Sudhakaran can now heave a sigh of relief as national general secretary Tariq Anwar has made it clear that there will not be a leadership change for now. This has put an end to the debate within party circles on the change of guard in the party’s state unit.
Anwar told reporters on Wednesday, “There will be no change of guard in the state Congress now. Sudhakaran will continue in office.” The central leadership took the decision as CWC leader A K Antony strongly backed Sudhakaran citing that he should be allowed to complete his term as president. This was endorsed by K C Venugopal, national general secretary (organisation).
Meanwhile, at the party office-bearers meeting at Indira Bhavan, there was a war of words between the leaders. They were unhappy with some party MPs openly stating their interest to shift to state politics. The state executive meeting on Thursday will take a call on whether a warning should be issued to these MPs.
MPs Shashi Tharoor and T N Prathapan had expressed their desire to return to state politics.
A few leaders urged Sudhakaran to rein in Prathapan, the Thrissur MP. The office-bearers said damaging statements by the MPs cannot be tolerated when the Lok Sabha election is around the corner. “A decision on whether the MPs should be censured will be taken at the state executive committee meeting on Thursday,” an office-bearer told TNIE.
The state Congress leadership also came under flak at the meeting for the manner in which it dealt with the controversy over Tharoor’s Malabar tour. The leaders said the Youth Congress programme in Kozhikode should not have been cancelled.
‘NO CORRUPTION IN G137 CHALLENGE, NEW INITIATIVE SOON’
K Sudhakaran told party office-bearers that there was no corruption in the D137 challenge, a fundraising programme initiated by KPCC in 2021 as part of the party’s 137th Foundation Day. Following the death of Congress treasurer V Prathapachandran, the challenge had courted controversy. His son Prajith Chandran had alleged financial irregularities in it. Sudhakaran furnished the financial statements on the challenge and said D6 crore was collected through the initiative. “Some leaders created a story and linked the challenge with Prathapachandran’s death. The party has plans to launch D138 challenge soon coinciding with the 138th birth anniversary of the Congress,” said Sudhakaran.