In a rare development, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala declared at a joint news conference here on Thursday that they would work jointly to preserve unity in the party and the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF).
At the news conference, which seemed to be a direct fallout of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s reported expression of her impatience with the low intensity faction war in the State unit of the party, the leaders were at pains to prove that they had not come together on the same platform to address the media on instructions from Ms. Gandhi. However, Mr. Chennithala himself had told the media about the instruction in Kottayam on Wednesday and the single important outcome of the exercise was the general agreement among the three that the ‘letter episode’ involving Mr. Chennithala was best forgotten. The party, they said in so many words, is not going to agonise over a letter, the existence of which has been denied by all concerned.
Mr. Sudheeran admitted that the party and the UDF had suffered a setback in the local government elections owing to disunity in the party. This, he asserted, would not be allowed to recur in the upcoming Assembly election. Controversial statements by leaders at all levels would be viewed seriously and acted upon. There would also not be any dispute between the party and the government. The effort now on was to prepare the party for the Assembly election and, as the party that heads the UDF, the Congress would stand united. The discussions with Ms. Gandhi were fruitful and inspiring, he said. Mr. Chandy was confident that the UDF would be able to put in a better performance if the alliance worked with single-minded dedication. To a question who would lead the alliance in the Assembly elections, he said that unlike in other parties, there would be no dispute over the issue in the Congress. The party was not in the habit of declaring its leader before elections. Once the elections are over, the party leadership and MLAs would decide who should lead the legislature group, he added.
Mr. Chennithala said nobody from the Congress had sought a leadership change in the State. Differences were natural in a political party, but when the party is faced with a crucial election, all the differences would be kept aside to fight the election jointly. The objective of the party is to ensure continuity of governance in the State and no effort would be spared to achieve that goal, the Home Minister said.
