Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran conveyed his “intense disillusionment” with the “imperious” style of functioning of the incumbent Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) leadership to All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Tariq Anwar, who called on the disaffected leader at his house here on Monday.
Mr. Sudheeran’s resignation in close succession from the AICC and the KPCC’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) had prompted Mr. Anwar’s placatory visit after a day of dilly-dallying.
Mr. Sudheeran’s move has arguably cast the helmsmanship of KPCC president K. Sudhakaran and Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan under a cloud.
It was also interpreted as an oblique criticism of AICC general secretary, organisation, K.C. Venugopal (organisation), who purportedly headed an emergent triad of the three leaders in Congress politics in the State.
Mr. Sudheeran’s position also resonated with the organisational line of party veterans Oommen Chandy, Ramesh Chennithala, and Mullappally Ramachandran.
The political calculus behind the reconcilement bid was that the Congress could ill afford to lose a leader of Mr. Sudheeran’s stature, given the slew of recent high-profile defections to the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Mr. Anwar, who is in charge of Kerala, remained closeted with Mr. Sudheeran for over an hour.
Mr. Sudheeran commanded no party faction. However, his clean politician image and single-man social campaigns had endeared him to party workers. He had also captured the public imagination to some measure by pointedly refusing to contest elections despite having savoured repeated success at the hustings.
Mr. Sudheeran said his path forward would hinge on whether the AICC would resort to course correction. There should be some tangible result on the ground, he said.
“The new leadership had initially instilled a feeling of hope. However, they soon dampened expectations by adopting a non-consultative style of functioning alien to the Congress,” he said. The authoritarian trait was evident in the arbitrary nomination of DCC presidents, he said.
When pressed about the possibility of withdrawing his resignation, Mr. Sudheeran said he rarely retracted his decisions. He was a congenital Congress person who adhered to the Gandhi-Nehruvian school of thought. He hankered after no post and had flagged the issue purely in party interest.
