When Congress chief Sonia Gandhi appointed senior leader VM Sudheeran as the president of the party’s Kerala unit, the job she gave him was to put an end to the rampant groupism in it. But he is now accused of battling to satisfy his own ego by making an anti-liquor campaign his single-point agenda which in turn is allegedly worsening factionalism in the party.
The allegation is that since April 1, the day 418 of the total 734 bars in Kerala were closed for lack of the required facilities, Sudheeran has been putting pressure on the Government, led by his own party, to keep them closed as he thinks that this move was bringing liquor consumption down in the State and would pave the foundation for a liquor-free Kerala.
There are not many in the Congress who whole-heartedly support Sudheeran in this matter while the party’s A-group, led by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, is vehemently opposing him. The I-group, headed by Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, is now planning to support Sudheeran but not due to its love for a liquor-free Kerala but as part of its faction war against Chandy.
“Sudheeran is wasting time over this non-issue concerning bars, which may help him win some applause, when the party is facing a serious crisis of survival after the lok Sabha election results. But all he cares to talk about is the need to keep the 418 bars closed as though it is the immediate problem before us,” said group-neutral Congress leader from Kozhikode.
This leader pointed out that the only people who considered Sudhakaran’s campaign as important was the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Conference (KCBC) and a section in the Muslim league. “In this sense, Sudheeran’s anti-bar campaign could be termed as yet another programme of minority appeasement,” he alleged.
The State Congress chief seems to be using every public function he attends to argue why the 418 bars should remain closed, saying that the closure had led to a drop in liquor consumption, liquor-induced social problems and crimes. He also says that there is a groundswell of public opinion against reopening the closed bars.
But Sudheeran’s party colleague K Babu, Excise Minister of the State, keeps on reminding him that his theory is wrong because the liquor sales in the remaining 316 bars which are operational has gone up by 84 percent and the volume of liquor sold through the 387 retail outlets in the State had seen a surprising spurt since April 1.
Babu told the State Assembly on Monday that there had been an increase in income from liquor sales by Rs 225 crore in the past three months. According to him, the Excise Department has not had the opportunity to examine the quality levels of the bars in the State and that there could be good bars among the closed ones and substandard ones among those that are operational.
Also, there are no statistical proofs available with the Home Department to support Sudheeran’s claim that the closure of the bars has led to a substantial fall in the incidence of crimes in the society. It is said that the number of road accidents has come down but most attribute this to the tough traffic control measures taken by IPS officer Rishiraj Singh as Transports Commissioner.
“Sudheeran seems to be using his anti-bar campaign as an excuse for his inability to put an end to the group war for which he was appointed as president in February. Once the I-group begins to use this issue against its rival A-group, Sudheeran will be made a part of the faction war even without his knowledge,” said a senior journalist of a pro-Congress newspaper.