Unrest in Congress over Ramesh Chennithala offensive

Thiruvananthapuram: Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala is facing brickbats from his own partymen over his lacklustre performance vis-a-vis Finance Minister Thomas Isaac in highlighting the mess created by demonetisation. He could not even cash in on the crisis faced by the government in the disbursal of salaries and pension of the staff  conceding the Opposition space to the BJP, it is alleged. The belated response of Mr Chennithala reflected the lack of clarity of the Congress over the issue, it is said.

The salvoes fired by Mr Chennithala against Dr   Isaac have  created internal bickerings within the Congress.  A section of the Congress leaders vouch that Mr Chennithala had botched up the strike against the self-financing college fee structure earlier and   floundered in handling the currency issue now. According to a prominent leader,  Mr  Chennithala has proved  that he is not fit to be the Oposition Leader.

“No one trusts Chennithala in the party, including his own group leaders. When stalwarts like K. Karunakaran and Oommen Chandy had proved their mettle as Opposition leaders,  Chennithala has failed,”  said the   leader. He pointed out that Chennithala looks at the scribbling pad while holding press meets as he gropes for the exact words instead of presenting valid points.   A prominent ‘A’ group leader and member of the  Political Affairs Committee told DC that Dr  Isaac  is well-studied.  “Chennithala does not do his  home work well unlike Thomas Isaac and he aims at ‘headline news’ like when he asked Dr  Isaac to stop his road shows,” he said.

Dr  Isaac had voiced his frank opinion on demonetisation on the same night when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced it on November 8, though  most leaders belonging to other states had praised it.  Congress leaders also faulted  KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran for failing to  take the Modi government to task for the demonetisation chaos. Meanwhile, BJP leader P.K. Krishnadas alleged that Thomas Isaac was triggering riots by creating panic over demonetisation.