Thiruvananthapuram: Amidst moves by the new leadership of KPCC to eliminate group culture in the state Congress, veteran leader Oomen Chandy on Sunday made it clear that this practice is a reality, but that the party comes first.
“Congress should move forward. Congress first, groups second,” he told reporters when asked whether this kind of culture was over in the party.
Chandy clarified his stand when the Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly V D Satheesan met him at his residence in Kottayam as part of the new leadership’s bid to iron out differences with warring groups leaders Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala.
His statement comes days after AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal said in Kannur that Congress was “his group.”
Chandy’s statement also assumes significance in the wake of many leaders who were part of ‘A’ and ‘I’ groups starting to ditch them and rallying behind the new leadership.
The ‘A’ group is headed by Chandy and the ‘I’ group, by Chennithala.
Satheesan said the Congress needs the support and guidance of senior leaders like Chandy and therefore, it would hold discussions to address their grievances so that the party can move forward together and become stronger.
Admitting there were some internal problems within, Satheesan said these cannot be ignored and the only way to resolve them was through talks.
He said the discussions would continue.
In the joint media address, Chandy also admitted there are problems in the Congress and said he agreed with Satheesan’s suggestion that the issues need to be resolved through talks.
“Without discussions, the problems will only get worse and if the talks take place, I will cooperate,” he said.
Chandy said that it was Congress’ method of resolving issues through talks. The discussion at Chandy’s residence came in the wake of a scathing attack on the new KPCC leadership, headed by its chief K Sudhakaran and Satheesan, over their “arrogant” style of functioning, by the groups headed by Ramesh Chennithala and Chandy.
They had expressed displeasure over the new leadership for ignoring the two veteran leaders in organisational matters, particularly in the selection of 14 DCC chiefs.
The Congress leadership had recently asserted in Kannur that PCC chief K Sudhakaran will be the “last word” on organisational matters in the state and spoke about bringing discipline in the party.
The two groups have been active in the state unit since the times of veteran leader K Karunakaran and senior leader AK Antony.