The District Congress committee (DCC) meeting held here on Wednesday witnessed heated exchanges between the leaders of the two rival factions in the party over the presence of a DCC general secretary who had been suspended by the DCC president.
The DCC meeting held in the morning was marked by the exchanges between the pro-K. Sudhakaran camp and the rival faction comprising the ‘A’ group and those opposed to the former MP.
Disbanding of bank
The commotion reflected the factional rift over the disbanding of the Pallikkunnu Service Cooperative Bank here last month.
DCC members loyal to the ‘A’ group boycotted the meeting in protest against DCC president K. Surendran’s stand that DCC general secretary V. Shahul Hameed, loyal to the ‘A’ group and suspended from the post of DCC general secretary last month, should not sit at the meeting.
According to party sources, the DCC president’s directive to Mr. Hameed to leave the venue of the meeting angered the leaders who were not known to be loyal to Mr. Sudhakaran.
Sudheeran's directive
The former MLA A.D. Musthafa took on the DCC president saying that Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president V.M. Sudheeran had directed the DCC to rescind the suspension order.
Commotion broke out when the two groups remained adamant about their positions.
Later those who opposed the DCC president’s stand boycotted the meeting and shouted slogans against him.
While the DCC president said that he had not received any directive from the KPCC president to revoke the suspension, the ‘A’ group claimed that the party mouthpiece, Veekshanam, had published the news of the KPCC president's directive.
Mr. Surendran had removed Mr. Hameed as DCC general secretary on January 21 for convening a press conference against the DCC president as group rivalry resurfaced following the disbanding of the director board of the cooperative bank.
The disbanding of the bank director board triggered group rivalry as the anti-Sudhakaran camp here had opposed it. Among those who opposed the disbanding of the board was KPCC general secretary P. Ramakrishan, who is an archrival of the Mr. Sudhakaran in the district. The two rival camps also held public meetings here to explain their positions on the bank issue.
