Senior Congress Party leader Oommen Chandy has left for New Delhi for a crucial meeting with party vice-president Rahul Gandhi today.
The former Kerala chief minister has not been on good terms with Gandhi ever since he made V M Sudheeran the party chief in the state against the wishes of a majority of leaders, including Ramesh Chennithala.
Chandy has also been demanding organisational polls, ending the practice of the “high command” nominating key party functionaries, much to the chagrin of Sudheeran.
The differences reached a flashpoint when Sudheeran delayed finalisation of candidates for last year’s assembly polls, which saw the party suffering a humiliating defeat because some of Chandy’s nominees were facing allegations of corruption.
He stopped attending meetings that Sudheeran convenes after district chiefs were picked up against his wishes, while he remains the most popular leader among the party cadres and allies.
But he has been actively participating in well-attended public meetings of the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) that the party leads in Kerala.
On Sunday, he addressed a meeting in his home district of Kottayam, distancing himself from the violent protests and asserting that the party should not deviate from the Gandhian principles of passive agitation.
“The protests should have the participation of people, and they should keep discipline,” he said at the meeting organised by the UDF district committee.
“The people are being denied rations and the public distribution system is in ruins ever since this (communist) government came to power (seven months back).”
The senior leader who also skipped a high-power political affairs committee of the Congress on Saturday despite the best efforts by other leaders, took to Facebook to make it clear that nothing short of organisational elections would satisfy him.
He also sounded disappointed at the party’s feeble response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “divisive tactics to remain in power” and governance paralysis under his successor, Pinarayi Vijayan in Kerala.
“I have my views (on nominations) that I have been holding all along. Only a total revamp would help the party to face the present challenges. I would explain it to the leadership,” Chandy said.
“I have no complaints or demands. But I have a strong view that there should be organisational elections and that’s nothing new. People want the Congress and UDF to strengthen and I would be at the forefront of all efforts at that.”
Meanwhile former chief minister and senior Congress leader A K Antony yesterday asked party leaders to end their infighting, saying it was eating into their support base.
“What many fail to realise is that the support base of not just the party but its leaders is slipping because of this infighting,” Antony said.
“The need of the hour is for the leaders to come out of the comfort zone of their coteries. They should not fear criticism,” he said.
Chandy: crucial meeting
