Congress MP K. Sudhakaran has said that he is prepared to submit his resignation as MP if the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) finds merit in the stance of District Congress Committee (DCC) president P. Ramakrishnan who has demanded his resignation.
Speaking at a press conference here on Saturday, Mr. Sudhakaran said (in response to a question on his demand for the removal of Mr. Ramakrishnan from the post of DCC president) it was for the KPCC to decide on the dispute between Congress workers supporting him and those backing Mr. Ramakrishnan.
“If the KPCC decides to allow Mr. Ramakrishnan to continue as DCC president, that means his demand for my resignation is right and I am wrong. In that case, I am prepared to step down as MP,” he said adding that he had confidence in the leadership of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala. The MP said he would abide by their decision on the dispute in the district unit of the party.
The district Congress has seen intense factional rivalry between supporters of Mr. Sudhakaran and Mr. Ramakrishnan since a large group of Sudhakaran loyalists blocked the DCC president from entering the office for hours on August 31 in protest against the latter's alleged remark against Mr. Sudhakaran over the expulsion of some party workers involved in an earlier protest by the MP's loyalists. The dispute snowballed into a controversy after the DCC president accused Mr. Sudhakaran of indulging in irregularities in collecting funds for helping the family of a slain party worker K.P. Sajithlal.
Denying the allegation, Mr. Sudhakaran told the press conference that the charge was a black stain on his political image, especially when it came from the DCC president. He said the party district unit had mobilised funds to help families of all party workers who had been killed during his tenure as DCC president. Each of the families had been given Rs.1.25 lakh at public functions. The fund for the Sajithlal family had been mobilised in 1995 and handed over in two instalments. No party leader or worker had raised any allegation of irregularity in the fund collection over these years.
“Mr. Ramakrishnan was not holding any official party position at that time as he was running an evening daily critical of me,” Mr. Sudhakaran said adding that the DCC president was, therefore, unaware of the details of fundraising. He denied Mr. Ramakrishnan's charge that the funds for helping the family of Sajithlal had been collected from Gulf countries. Except for the funds mobilised by the Kerala Students' Union, the donations were collected from people in the district alone. Stating that the disclosure of the brother of Sajithlal that the family had been handed over the funds had disproved the allegation against him.
Referring to the charge that he had offered to protect dissident CPI(M) ideologue ‘Berlin' Kunhanandan Nair without consulting leaders in the DCC, he said that it was his obligation as MP to offer social protection to a person who was facing social ostracism by the CPI(M). Moreover, it was the Congress policy that people leaving the CPI(M) would be protected to ensure their political freedom. That was why the Congress had come to the assistance of ousted CPI(M) leaders such as M.V. Raghavan, K.R. Gouri, and A.P. Abdullakutty, he added.
Stating that the blockade against Mr. Ramakrishnan on August 31 was unfortunate and unjustifiable, Mr. Sudhakaran said that it was an emotional outburst on the part of party workers. He alleged that CPI(M) workers were behind the anonymous poster campaign against him.
