KOTTAYAM: The resentment between the ‘A’ and ‘I’ groups in the Congress over the selection of Youth Congress (YC) state president appears to be escalating into a full-blown confrontation, with Puthuppally MLA Chandy Oommen coming out against Congress and Youth Congress leaderships.
Chandy Oommen on Thursday publicly expressed his dissatisfaction, highlighting the manner in which he was removed from the organisational position of the YC earlier and was currently being treated within the Congress.
While extending support to Abin Varkey, who was also a candidate for the YC presidency but was overlooked in favour of O J Janeesh, Chandy Oommen on Thursday said he was deeply hurt when he was removed from the YC organisational position on the death anniversary day of his father Oommen Chandy in 2024, that too without intimation.
Interestingly, Chandy Oommen’s outbursts against the leadership came on the day when Janeesh arrived at the tomb of Oommen Chandy in Puthuppally to pay tributes before taking charge as YC president.
Chandy Oommen’s remarks reflect a long-standing conflict with the Shafi Parambil and Rahul Mamkootathil duo, that began after he was relieved of his duties in the Youth Congress national outreach cell. The decision reportedly stemmed from reports submitted by Rahul to the national leadership shortly after he took office as YC president in November 2023.
Chandy Oommen told TNIE that he was removed without any intimation.
“I was humiliated on the anniversary of my father’s death by removing me from the position. I was not given a valid reason for my removal. Surprisingly, I learned of my expulsion when I was removed from a WhatsApp group for the outreach cell, and I did not even receive a formal notification,” he said.
Chandy says experience is not being recognised
“Everybody knows who were behind it, and what was the reason. I don’t want to comment,” Chandy Oommen said. “It is not about any position, there should be organisational etiquette. If I had been asked, I would have tendered my resignation. However, I chose not to respond at that time,” he said.
Chandy said he had informed about the injustice to the party leaders, but no action was taken. He accused some media of misinterpreting that K C Venugopal had told him to obey the high command’s decision. “In fact, KC was shocked over the decision to remove me from the position,” he said.
Training his gun on the Shafi-Mamkootathil team, he also expressed his profound dissatisfaction with how he has been treated within the party. “I have dedicated 25 years to the party since joining in 2000. Although I am a first-time MLA, my tenure as a party worker surpasses that of many other MPs and MLAs. It is reality that this experience is not being recognised,” he said.
Political observers believe that Chandy Oommen’s current attack on party leadership has many political dimensions. Especially in the context of the Shafi-Mamkootathil team getting closer to K C Venugopal, Chandy Oommen feels that he may be further ignored. He suspects that there is even a move to expel him from the party.
