Thiruvananthapuram: PCC president V. M. Sudheeran has got a breather as Congress high command did not buy into factional demand for his ouster. But this is not the end of widespread discontent against Sudheeran’s continuation. The high command will have to find a substitute as part of an overhaul of the organisation.
Since the PCC chief aspirants like V. D. Satheeshan, P. T. Thomas, K. Sudhakaran, K. Muraleedharan and Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan are all attached to either of the groups, AICC leadership is contemplating of having a senior leader like P. C. Chacko coming at the helm.
If ‘A’ group demanded Mr Sudheeran’s ouster openly, not many from the ‘I’ group was baying for his blood publicly except KPCC vice-president V. D. Satheeshan, Joseph Vazhakkan and K. Sudhakaran. Congress leaders maintain that these three leaders would not have demanded Mr Sudheeran’s ouster without the ‘silent blessing’ of Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala, who heads the ‘I’ group.
It should be recalled that prominent ‘I’ group leader Sooranad Rajasekharan had rallied behind Mr Sudheeran at the KPCC camp executive last weekend where he demanded that he should continue. “As long as Mr Chennithala remains as the Opposition Leader, he is not bothered whether Mr Sudheeran should continue or not. Since Mr Chennithala is aware of AICC leadership preferring to see Mr Sudheeran at the helm due to his non-factional status, he treads cautiously,” said a Congress leader.
Mr Sudheeran’s loyal brigade of KPCC general secretaries says, during the last one decade, former CM Oommen Chandy and Mr Chennithala were undisputed leaders in the party until Mr Sudheeran came to head the party early 2014.
“There was none to question Mr Chandy and Mr Chennithala for so long that when Mr Sudheeran started to intervene in government's policies, they began showing intolerance. Whatever decision these two senior leaders took had the wholehearted support of senior leader A. K. Antony,” said a KPCC general secretary.
Mr Sudheeran has already stated in New Delhi that there is no scope of group activities from now on which is going to be a huge blow to the camps of Mr Chandy and Mr Chennithala. But party sources told DC that a peeved ‘A’ group will take out a non-cooperation stand against Mr Sudheeran.
