The 130th foundation day celebrations of the Congress in Kerala on Sunday turned out to be an occasion for party leaders to lament the serious problems created by the cold war and disunity among the party’s top leadership and for pleading to one another to bury the hatchet so that the organisation could be revitalised to face the coming elections.
That reconciliation efforts might not help restore a sense of unity at the top was obvious on Sunday itself as Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who was engaged in a tough cold war with State Congress president VM Sudheeran, stayed away from the celebrations. There were reports that Sudheeran had not invited Chandy to the function but the State party chief denied this.
Sudheeran, currently at loggerheads with the factions led by the Chief Minister and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, made a hectic effort to justify himself at the foundation day celebrations. “There are differences of opinion in the Congress. These differences are not ego-driven but are issue-based and policy-based,” he said.
However, Sudheeran did not hesitate to blame - though indirectly - his detractors in the party for giving these differences a personal colour. He said that there were efforts within the Congress itself to interpret the differences on policies and issues as personal prejudice. He also made it clear that the differences might continue for some more time.
Chandy was not the only top leader to boycott the celebrations. State Congress vice-president MM Hassan, a staunch loyalist of Chandy who had openly and sharply criticised his party president a few days ago, also did not attend it. Sudheeran had stayed away from a programme of the Janasree Mission, a microfinance initiative headed by Hassan, the other day.
The problems between Sudheeran, a self-styled anti-liquor crusader, and the mighty factions in the party had grown into a stiff cold war a few days ago after he openly criticised the Government of Chandy for watering down its own liquor policy which had originally envisaged implementation of total liquor ban in the State in ten years.
Sudheeran, who had led a 35-day all-Kerala campaign popularising the original liquor policy, accused Chandy, Chennithala and others of sabotaging it by watering it down with certain changes which the Government claimed were practical. Sudheeran and his enemies accused each other of undermining the Congress’s prospects of retaining power after the 2016 election.
Participating in the foundation day celebrations, Home Minister Chennithala, former State Congress president, also spoke of the disunity among the top leadership. Stating that the achievements the Congress had made were not the contributions of any particular individual, he said that it could make historic achievement in 2016 if Sudheeran and Chandy joined hands.
Sitting in Delhi, Congress Working Committee member AK Antony also was concerned about the disunity at the top of the State party leadership but he looked confident about an early end to it. In his message to party workers in Kerala as conveyed to mediamen from the State, Antony said the leaders should stand together to harvest a historic victory in the 2016 Assembly election.
“The problems we see (in the State Congress) are… I won’t call it a storm but … just some disturbances in a tea cup. Nobody should dream of fishing in muddy waters (of the Congress),” Antony told newsmen in Delhi, adding that solutions to the problems in Kerala’s Congress could be found in the State itself.
Antony, who celebrated his 75th birthday along with his party’s foundation day on Sunday, said that his time at in the party leadership in Kerala was over. Observers interpreted this statement as an indirect reply to veteran Congress leader MM Jacob’s allegation that Sudheeran was opposing Chandy with Antony’s support.