THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Upset at the prolonged delay in the reorganisation of state Congress, AICC general secretary in charge of Kerala Deepa Dasmunsi openly admitted before Kerala leaders that she has had enough. “I am totally dissatisfied. What is the reason for the delay. It’s unnecessary,” she reportedly told the political affairs committee (PAC) meeting held on Monday.
Multiple Congress sources who were present at the meeting confirmed to TNIE that Deepa was very upset at the “unnecessary” delay. However, she did not respond to queries from this paper.
Meanwhile, according to party insiders, the AICC is likely to announce the new list of KPCC vice-presidents and general secretaries on Tuesday. “The AICC considers Tuesdays and Saturdays auspicious for taking decisions,” a senior leader said.
Though there was demand for a total revamp, including that of KPCC secretaries, state party chief Sunny Joseph clarified that as they could not reach a consensus, it would be announced later. Former KPCC presidents Ramesh Chennithala and K Sudhakaran had approached the high command after the state leadership raised objections to the list the two leaders had submitted. It is learnt that Ramesh had submitted around 30 names and Sudhakaran 20 names. However, the leadership is of the view that it could not accommodate the full list.
Almost all leaders who spoke at the meeting echoed the AICC general secretary’s opinion, and urged the leadership to end the uncertainty and complete the reorganisation soon. “The responsibility is with the leadership. It shows their incapability to implement a decision. They have been preaching about the reorganisation for some time,” said a leader. Shanimol Usman and Benny Behnan were reportedly scathing in their criticism.
Senior leaders P J Kurien and K Muraleedharan expressed dissatisfaction over accommodating tainted leaders in the new list. Kurien said he was not consulted before preparing the list from his district, pointing out that some tainted leaders’ names are included. Muraleedharan sarcastically told the meeting, “It is said that in the new list there are names of leaders who had ‘helped’ me in Thrissur in the last Lok Sabha election. I have no issue with it. I am also of the opinion that you should give them seats in the coming assembly election, so that I can also help them back.”
Sashi Tharoor, who participated in the PAC after a gap, said though “this government is very unpopular among the people, that is not sufficient. We all know how unpopular they are. However, we could tell the people what we would do if we came to power,” he said. Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan, agreeing with Tharoor, assured him that his proposal would be considered.
Satheesan, however, came under fire for lack of communication with the Nair Service Society (NSS) on the Agola Ayyappa Sangamam. Leaders including Muraleedharan, Kurien, V S Sivakumar, Benny Behnan said the party leadership should have taken into confidence the NSS, which had always stood with the Congress and the UDF.
For the first time, Satheesan revealed that the Congress had informed the NSS about the party position on Ayyappa Sangamam. “It was a CPM programme. The government had organised it at the fag end of their term to manipulate believers. We as a political party took the position not to collaborate unless the government answers our questions,” he said.
Satheesan further clarified that the Congress was not in a fight with the NSS.
