THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Facing heat from front partners at the UDF meeting held on Thursday, the state Congress leadership assured the former that it would resolve internal tussles and move ahead unitedly. Both Opposition leader V D Satheesan and KPCC president K Sudhakaran told the leaders not to worry about the internal issues in the Congress as they had already reached a consensus.
Expressing anguish over the recent controversies, IUML leader P K Kunhalikutty, who started the discussion, said that the internal issues emanating from the Congress must be resolved. Without mentioning Shashi Tharoor’s name, Kunhalikutty said that the controversies would not help the UDF at all. Taking a cue from the League leader’s caution, the other front partners also expressed their unhappiness over the internal rumblings in the party created by Tharoor’s article in The New Indian Express and the interview in the Indian Express.
“At a time when public sentiment is against the LDF government, Tharoor’s statement lauding the state government has created confusion among the people,” the leaders pointed out. “While we are organising protests against the government, Tharoor is giving a good certificate to the former. However, the public mood is against the left government. Congress should take extra care not to repeat these actions,” they said.
Replying to the discussions, both Satheesan and Sudhakaran downplayed the controversy and criticised the media for orchestrating it. “We have already resolved the issues,” Satheesan told the meeting. “We also expect that from now on such action will not be repeated. There is an unprecedented unity in Congress now. No group meetings are held now. It shows the unity of the party. It is the media that is creating unnecessary issues,” he said.
Sudhakaran told the meeting that Congress is moving ahead in unity. “We have completed around 3,000 house meetings. The media is trying to propagate that there are some issues in the party. If at all there is any, we will resolve it,” he said.
The UDF meeting also decided that all front partners must hold discussions with Congress leadership ahead of the local body election so that seat-sharing would be a smooth affair.