Easing of hostilities on the cards in Kerala Cong

Sudhakaran meets Chandy, Chennithala, says the party stands united

Clearing the air: Congress leaders Oommen Chandy, K. Sudhakaran, V.D. Satheesan, and Ramesh Chennithala at a UDF meet in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.

An easing of hostilities in the Congress in Kerala seemed to be on the horizon on Monday.

A party insider claimed the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) leadership had dropped the move to orchestrate a purge of ‘A’ and ‘I’ factions in the party by cracking the whip on ‘indiscipline.’ Instead, the KPCC seemed inclined to accommodate the choices of Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala to some measure in future party appointments.

KPCC president K. Sudhakaran and Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan claimed the party stood united after a high-profile meeting with Mr. Chandy and Mr. Chennithala. By one account, both Mr. Chandy and Mr. Chennithala demanded that suspended party leaders K. Sivadasan Nair and K.P. Anil Kumar be ushered back to the Congress fold.

Both Mr. Nair and Mr. Kumar were reportedly inclined to issue a conciliatory statement clarifying their controversial remarks about DCC reorganisation. The KPCC has sought an explanation from Congress leader Rajmohan Unnithan, MP, for allegedly suggesting that group leaders opposed to the choice of DCC presidents should form their parties or try their luck in other organisations.

Mr. Unnithan had not mentioned any leader by name. But, ‘A’ and ‘I’ group managers reportedly viewed his words as a veiled attack against Mr. Chandy and Mr. Chennithala. Both the leaders had taken strong exception to Mr. Unnithan’s statement.

A party insider said Mr. Chandy and Mr. Chennithala had pointed out to the KPCC leadership that disciplinary action should not be a one-way process lest party workers construed it as biased.

The rapprochement between Congress factions came on a day when expelled KPCC secretary P.S. Prasanth delivered a broadside against the party’s leadership at a public meeting to announce his defection to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)].

KPCC has dismissed Mr. Prasanth's averments as those of an embittered politician out to avenge his exclusion from the list of DCC presidents. However, a party leader said the Congress was concerned over the CPI(M)’s pro-active measures to woo Congress workers to the LDF fold. Hence, the immediate task cut out for the KPCC was to keep its flock together.