THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KPCC president M. M. Hassan plans to take out a yatra from Kasargod to Thiruvananthapuram at the end of Ramadan this month to source funds for the party with the blessings of the ‘A’ group. But the ‘I’ group has smelt a rat and opposed it saying that Mr Hassan wants to continue in the post, although he was appointed as a stop-gap chief in the wake of the resignation of Mr V.M. Sudheeran as PCC president on March 10. The ‘I’ group says that the yatra should be undertaken by the new KPCC president who will take over after the organisational elections are completed by October -- November.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had appointed Mr Hassan as PCC chief after holding talks with all the DCC presidents. A prominent ‘I’ group MLA told DC: “This is a ploy of Hassan to continue as PCC president. Also, huge funds have been pumped in without transparency to revive the Jai Hind television channel. Hassan is its founder chairman. A mass contact programme has to be initiated by an elected KPCC president,” he said. Though no official-level talks have been held on the proposed yatra, ‘I’ group leaders believe that former chief minister Oommen Chandy will not endorse it at this juncture. The ‘I’ group is planning to take it up at the party level. The political affairs committee meeting scheduled for June 13 will also consider the Vizhinjam project controversy.
