The Congress Political Affairs Committee on Saturday threw its weight behind former Minister K. Babu, terming the Vigilance investigation against him a political vendetta being carried out by the Left Democratic Front government at the behest of the liquor lobby.
The 10-hour-long PAC meeting witnessed heated discussions on two major issues, the stand the party should adopt with regard to their harried party colleague and the method for the party revamp.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president V. M. Sudheeran came under all-round fire for his failure to protect Mr. Babu at a time when it was becoming increasingly clear that the Vigilance investigation was motivated.
Leaders such as Mullappally Ramchandran, P. C. Chacko, Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, Oommen Chandy, K. C. Joseph and others said that the party should pronounce a clear stand, defending Mr. Babu. All the 21 members got an opportunity to speak during the marathon session and there was total unanimity on the need to politically confront the ‘vendetta’ investigation that is currently on. The party was not against any kind of investigation, but the course of investigation was going into uncharted territory like probing his antecedents as a five-term legislator. Such methods smacked of vendetta, the PAC felt.
New DCC chiefs
There was a near consensus on inducting new presidents for all the 14 district congress committees. The DCCs would also be reconstituted.
As a tactic, the discussions at the PAC did not focus on factional issues, but it is almost clear that the revamp process would go on factional lines. Some of the conditions that Mr. Sudheeran imposed for inclusion in the DCCs will not apply in this round of revamp. These conditions included weeding out DCC members who had served for 10 consecutive years and a bar on the age limit to qualify for DCC membership. While Mr. Chandy maintained that organisation elections should be conducted, Mr. Sudheeran, explaining the practical problems, said party election in Kerala can be held only along with the AICC schedule.
