Kerala Congress continues to be in a state of flux
Even though the party has been seeing internal difference since long, matters took a turn for the worse in May when the party suffered a rout in the April 6 Assembly polls
image for illustrative purpose
Thiruvananthapuram: There seems to be no end to the infighting in the Kerala Congress with faction leaders taking their grievances to the party high command as two-time former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy stays put in Delhi. Even though the party has been seeing internal difference since long, matters took a turn for the worse in May when the party suffered a rout in the April 6 Assembly polls, when the CPI(M)'s Pinarayi Vijayan easily retained power.
Following the defeat, the party high command stepped in and decided to go for a major overhaul and appointed K Sudhakaran as the new state party president and later VD Satheesan as Leader of Opposition ruffling many feathers. This left the erstwhile faction managers Oommen Chandy and outgoing Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala fretting and fuming. The party then witnessed new formations with traditional rivals Chandy and Chennithala joining hands against Sudhakaran and Satheesan. Luck favoured Sudhakaran and Satheesan, when the all-powerful KC Venugopal decided to support the new faction. The old guard of Chandy and Chennithala decided to fight back and has decided to play spoilsport after Sudhakaran decided to go ahead with the revamp of the party at the lower and district levels.
According to a source, Chandy has reached Delhi and will meet party president Sonia Gandhi. "The Chandy-Chennithala faction is of the view that if there are plans to conduct organisational polls, then the present revamp should not happen. They know that through a revamp - which is mere nomination of new office-bearers, they will be able to further consolidate the party and the biggest losers will be the old guard."
