Agreeing indirectly with the criticism that the ruling UDF, his party, was leading and the coalition Government in the State were facing a serious image problem, Kerala’s Congress president VM Sudheeran on Saturday harshly criticised the Government, saying that it was not moving along the right path and in the right direction.
At a meeting of the PCC office-bearers and executives in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday, Sudheeran said that it would be difficult for the party and the UDF to return to power in the next Assembly election. There should be collective efforts to improve the situation keeping in mind the political reality, sources quoted him as saying.
Certain corrections had to be made in the way in which the Government was functioning presently, Sudheeran said. Indicating that there was a general complaint that most of the Ministers were out of the capital, Thiruvananthapuram, most of the time, Sudheeran said there should be measures to solve this problem.
Sudheeran suggested that every Congress Minister should be present in the capital at least for four days a week, adding that party workers in several parts of the State had been raising allegations of several kinds about Congress Ministers. It would be difficult to face the coming elections if corrections were not made, he warned.
Agreeing with Sudheeran, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, an opponent of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in the protracted faction-based politics of the Congress, said that the Government should make efforts to refurbish its image — obviously tarnished by corruption allegations against several Ministers — if it wanted to make an impact in the coming elections.
later, Sudheeran told the media that the Ministers had to behave more responsibly. “I agree that the Ministers will have to attend several official and public functions. But they should streamline their programmes so that they would be available in the capital for administrative matters,” he said.
“At least, some Ministers are in the habit of appearing in the capital only for Cabinet meetings and leaving the city after that. This won’t do. The Congress Ministers should behave like models for others and be in the capital at least for four days a week in the capital. Thus they should ensure that they keep some discipline in such matters,” he said.