THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid hectic manoeuvering by chief ministerial aspirants in the Congress with over two weeks remaining for the counting of votes, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has warned the Congress leadership of serious consequences if it fails to step in.
“If reports of a dispute over the CM’s post are true, the League is deeply dissatisfied,” IUML state general secretary P M A Salam told TNIE. “We are concerned about these developments if they are indeed happening. The people have given a strong mandate for the UDF,” he said.
The sharp response from IUML comes in the wake of a tussle between supporters of Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan and senior leader Ramesh Chennithala on social media, projecting their respective leaders as the frontrunner for CM post. Both leaders have also intensified steps to garner support among prospective MLAs.
The League leadership believes that such actions question the conscience of voters, and they expect intervention from the Congress high command. “If this continues, we will chart our own course,” an IUML leader said on condition of anonymity.
Behanan urges Kharge intervention
“This is no longer an internal matter of the Congress. It affects the credibility of the UDF as well. We will not allow a repeat of such mistakes,” he said. Sources said a section within the League favours taking a tougher stand if the situation worsens.
Several other UDF allies are also of the view that the tussle would affect the image of the next UDF government. “We are closely watching how the Congress high command defuses the situation,” said a UDF leader.
Meanwhile, several senior Congress leaders such as Benny Behanan, K C Joseph and K Muraleedharan have voiced concern over the ongoing power struggle between senior leaders over CM’s post.
They are also learnt to have conveyed their dissatisfaction to the respective leaders. Former UDF convenor Benny Behanan, in a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, sought urgent intervention to end what he termed a “degenerative trend”. “What is happening in the party now is a new trend where WhatsApp groups decide the chief minister. Next, they will decide the ministers and portfolios,” Behanan said.
In the letter, he noted that “certain leaders have been competing on social media to promote their claim to the post of CM, even before the results are declared. They are disrespecting the huge mandate believed to be given in favour of the UDF by the people. There is a feeling among the people that the Congress is congenitally infested with internal dissensions and infighting.”
K C Joseph told TNIE that the discussion about the CM post at this stage is inappropriate. “Congress has a system to elect parliamentary party leader. The victory is not of one or two leaders, but of all the UDF workers. Leaders must not show disrespect to the people who have voted for the party,” he said.
Muraleedharan said discussions on the next CM and participating in such discussions are against party policy. “It is the high command, after consulting the elected MLAs, that decides the next CM, and not WhatsApp or social media,” he told TNIE.
