THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After two senior Congress MPs, K Muraleedharan and M K Raghavan received warning notices from State Congress president K Sudhakaran, resentment has been brewing among the rest of the Congress MPs. The majority of them have rallied behind the duo and expressed concern about the lack of consultations happening at the party.
The two MPs who received notices had received calls from more than half a dozen MPs who expressed their solidarity with them. The rest of the MP clan was also caught unawares by the stand taken by Sudhakaran when the Lok Sabha election is just around the corner. The majority of them feel that Sudhakaran should have spoken to Kozhikode and Vadakara MPs, Raghavan and Muraleedharan, respectively, over the phone instead of sending registered post.
MP Kodikunnil Suresh had raised the issue of lack of consultations happening in the party at the State Congress office bearers meeting held at Indira Bhavan last Wednesday. Kodikunnil’s grievance was that despite being one of the working presidents, he was being kept in the dark about policy decisions “At the party office bearers meeting, I had urged Sudhakaran to hold dialogues with the stakeholders. There is not much time left for the Lok Sabha elections and now it’s the time for everyone to work together,” he told TNIE.
A few weeks ago when almost a dozen MPs came up against Sudhakaran before the central leadership, Muraleedharan had endorsed him openly. But now the latest incident of issuing notice to the two MPs, it has only triggered discord between them. In fact, Sudhakaran had met Muraleedharan en route to Kannur by train after the office bearers’ meeting and had exchanged pleasantries. A top Congress leader told TNIE that trouble is brewing in the party for a lack of party forum to air their grievances.
“Usually, former State Congress presidents are also invited to the party office bearers meeting. But ever since Sudhakaran came at the helm of the party, such precedents have been thrown to the wind. The need of the hour is to have constructive dialogues to sort out any differences of opinion and move united”, another senior Congress MP told TNIE.
The MPs will be huddled in New Delhi when the budget session of the Parliament will resume on Monday. Sudhakaran who is also the Kannur MP will be reaching the national capital on Monday morning.