THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a major embarrassment for the Congress, workers of its student arm KSU clashed among themselves, allegedly in an inebriated state, during a camp organised by the outfit in Thiruvananthapuram late Saturday night. Acting swiftly, an enraged state Congress chief K Sudhakaran constituted a three-member committee to probe the incident. The panel submitted its preliminary report, recommending stringent action against the KSU state leadership, top Congress sources said.
Several KSU workers were injured, two of them grievously, in the clash that broke out between two factions on the second day of ‘Resurgence’, a three-day southern region study camp, at the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Development Studies, Neyyar Dam. About 250 KSU workers from six southern districts attended the camp.
S M Sujith, one of the seriously injured, underwent plastic surgery on his hand at a leading private hospital at West Fort, Thiruvananthapuram. He was injured when he hit the window glass in an inebriated state. The clash broke out during a folk song concert. Footage of the brawl has gone viral on social media. Sudhakaran ordered immediate winding up of the camp which was originally scheduled to conclude on Sunday evening.
The probe panel constituted by Sudhakaran comprised Congress state general secretaries Pazhakulam Madhu and A M Nazeer, and Dalit Congress state president A K Sasi, who is also one of the directors of RGIDS. Both Nazeer and Sasi visited RGIDS and spoke to KSU leaders and workers. Madhu was unable to visit the spot. “We have filed a preliminary report to the party president and a comprehensive report will be submitted on Monday. We’ve recommended stringent action to ensure discipline within the KSU,” a member of the probe committee told TNIE.
Another member of the panel said they could not confirm reports that the workers were in an inebriated state. “However, there was lapse on the part of KSU state president Aloysius Xavier. He should have shown decorum... But he was found dancing minutes before the clash,” he said.
Sudhakaran kept in dark
Congress state president K Sudhakaran was not aware of the conduct of the camp, he said. Apparently, the KSU state leadership deliberately concealed it from him. When the NSU national secretary in charge, Birru Sampath Kumar, instructed the state KSU leadership to get the nod of the KPCC chief, he was told that Sudhakaran will not be in office once the Lok Sabha poll results are out on June 4, a member of the probe committee said.