leaders of the Congress and its allies in the ruling UDF in Kerala had considered the visit of Congress president Sonia Gandhi as the ‘last bus’ for establishing peace in the rift-ridden party and the front but it is now obvious that the discussions during the visit that ended on Monday had not yielded any result or proposals, the stakeholders had been hoping for.
The only purpose this two-day visit to the State served, is that it has created a new energy among the mid-level leadership and workers of the Congress party. The leadership thinks that this would help the party and the UDF to a great extent in the coming lok Sabha polls which is otherwise expected to bring despair to the Congress.
“Soniaji left Kerala with the promise to take steps to end the group war in the party. As far as the complaints of the UDF allies are concerned, she has asked the State leadership to find solutions at the earliest. In a sense, that much development has taken place but most in the party are unhappy,” said a senior Congress leader who did not want to be identified.
leaders of the UDF constituents met Sonia Gandhi on Sunday night and she had heard to the State Congress leaders on Monday morning but, according to sources, she had not put forward any proposals. “We expect her to take the inputs she has got, to Delhi and instruct the State leadership on the steps to be taken after thorough analyses,” the Congress leader said.
During the meeting with Sonia on Sunday, leaders of the UDF allies told her in no uncertain terms, that the image of the UDF Government headed by Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had taken a beating, due to the allegations of his involvement and that of his office in the infamous solar scam and many other scandals.
They told Sonia that the internal problems of the Congress had been threatening to destabilise the UDF and that the front could not go ahead in the current manner, forcing the party president to instruct the State leadership to sort out things immediately following which a meeting of UDF leaders was held on Monday afternoon at the Chief Minister’s residence.
State leaders of the Congress held discussions with Sonia Gandhi from 9.00 AM to 11.00 AM Monday with those belonging to the ‘I’ group led by State president Ramesh Chennithala, the ‘A’ group of Chandy and group-neutral leaders like VM Sudheeran putting forth their respective viewpoints on the problems affecting the party.
The ‘I’ group leaders leveled serious allegations against Chandy and his Government saying that there were suspicions that there was an adjustment with the CPI(M)-led Opposition lDF on many matters, especially the case pertaining to the murder of Marxist rebel TP Chandra-sekharan and the solar scam.
After the meeting, Sudheeran, whose versions are considered seriously by the high command, told newsmen, “I got a feeling that she had got clear reports on the state of affairs in the Kerala unit of the party. I told her my assessments, most of which I had put across to her earlier. We hope that there would be steps soon to solve the problems.”
One important outcome of the discussions is that the issue of induction of Chennithala into the Cabinet has become lively again. However, ‘I’ group sources said that they were determined not to allow resumption of discussions over this as the ‘A’ group had humiliated Chennithala “not once but three times” in the past over it.
“Soniaji has collected the reports. The only assurance we have got at present that is that there would be actions to set things right. More discussions would be needed but the fact is that the process cannot get delayed. If it is delayed, the Congress and UDF are sure to face unimaginable problems in the lok Sabha election,” a Congress source said.