VM Sudheeran, the newly appointed president of Kerala’s Congress party, on Monday asked his party colleagues not to question the decisions of party president Sonia Gandhi directly or indirectly.
“The leadership has noticed that some people have been making inappropriate statements (about Sonia Gandhi). One such unfortunate statement had come from K Sudhakaran MP the other day. That statement should have been avoided,” Sudheeran said in Kollam after a meeting of the State Congress-UDF Government Coordination Committee on Monday.
Referring to the directive Sonia issued at a party convention in Kochi last weekend to put an end to the groupism in Kerala’s Congress unit, Sudhakaran had on Sunday said that nobody could end the tendency of factionalism in the party. He even went to the extent of saying that the real strength of the Congress in Kerala was the groupism within it.
Stating that groups were actually teams of worshippers of particular leaders, Sudhakaran had said, “The sincere functioning of the worshippers is the secret of success of the Congress party.” In that sense, groupism was good for the party, said Sudhakaran. His statement against Sonia’s directive had come under heavy criticism at the meeting in Kollam.
However, observers say that Sudheeran had issued the instruction not just on the basis of Sudhakaran’s statement but it was meant for all the group managers in the party including Chief Minister Oommen Chandy heading the Congress’s “A” group and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala - KPCC president till last week - leading the “I” group.
It was Sonia Gandhi herself who had appointed Sudheeran as the Kerala PCC chief disregarding the objections raised by Chandy and Chennithala who, despite their fierce group enmity, had jointly proposed the name of State Assembly Speaker G Karthikeyan for the position. It is said that Sudheeran’s appointment itself was a warning from Sonia to the “group managers”.
Chandy had last Saturday conveyed to Sonia his unhappiness over the appointment of Sudheeran, who had been criticising the policies and programmes of his Government. There is also a view that Sudheeran’s instruction on Monday was triggered by the proxy statements Chandy and Ramesh were making through associates.
State Congress vice-president MM Hassan, a trusted lieutenant of Chandy in the group war, had come out openly against Sonia’s decision to appoint Sudheeran. He had criticized the high command for keeping Chandy and Chennithala in the dark on the appointment. Hassan had complained that Chandy and Chennithala had to know of the appointment from the media.
“Groupism has been a reality in Kerala’s Congress party for over the past three decades. It was there even during Indira Gandhi’s time. But groupism has never been a hindrance to the Congress’s electoral success in the State,” said a leader of Chennithala’s “I” group. “Call for groupless unity is all right but the high command should understand the reality,” he added.
After the KPCC-Government coordination committee’s meeting, Sudheeran also said that it was inappropriate for the sitting Congress MPs to declare their candidature for the coming lok Sabha themselves. “Names of the candidates for the polls are to be declared by the high command. There is no need for anyone to declare own candidature,” said Sudheeran.