Congress to go out of the scene in Kerala? The disputes never seem to cease!

Congress to switch to semi – cadre system, new KPCC president to overturn the party’s condition and strengthen it from the grassroots level!

Earlier this year, the 2021 legislative assembly elections in Kerala became a historic moment for the LDF led by Com. Pinarayi Vijayan as they were able to secure a massive victory against the Congress-led UDF.

Almost all mainstream media favoured UDF. The press predicted a massive win for the Congress and its alliances similar to the one they secured in the Lok Sabha general elections. 

Congress did not project anyone as their CM candidate, leaving the people in a state of confusion. The party’s lack of coordination and inability to match their opposition’s work ethic handed them one of their worst defeats of all time. They were limited to just 41 seats out of the total 140 seats.  

The present day’s tug of war among the leaders can be pointed out to begin after this result. The then opposition party leader, Ramesh Chennithala, assured that he would remain as the opposition party leader and accepted the responsibility for the loss.

However, after a string of differences in opinion, he was forced to resign from his post and V.D. Satheesan was appointed as their opposition leader. Similarly, KPCC leadership changes were also demanded from the workers, and K. Sudhakaran became the president amidst many other names suggested by the veteran leaders.  

Since his appointment as KPCC’s president, Sudhakaran was adamant in his decision that the party system needed to be changed. The H.C. allowed the charges of DCC presidents without heeding to the disagreements with Congress A and Congress I leaders. KPCC president and the new opposition leader were vocal about building the party more robust and avoiding prioritizing groups over the party itself. 

DCC presidents’ appointments upset the veteran group leaders, and it started an intense disruption in the whole party across the state. Many leaders publicly stated their disagreement with the new appointments and raised their difference in opinions about the claim of the KPCC president to make Congress a semi-cadre system. 

Sudhakaran argues that only changing Congress into a semi-cadre party will save it from the situation the party is facing now. The party that lost its power in the Centre to BJP is no way to win against the RSS-BJP, and the two consecutive failures assert that.

Similarly, Congress lost to CPIM back in 2016, and five years later, we witnessed them losing six more seats compared to their 47 seats in 2011. 

Has the qualification of a KPCC president have become just pure anti–Marxism? 

Hailing from Kannur and being a hardcore anti-Marxist, the new president wasted no time attacking the LDF government when he had a chance.

He is convinced that turning the party into a semi-cadre system is the only option. He had no worries about locking horns with the other leaders who were not enthusiastic about the idea. 

How long will the high command blindly support the new leadership? Or finally, the H.C. has decided to teach the veterans that groups are not above the party itself? 

The Congress H.C. seems to favor the ”new management” as they had visibly denied or did not listen to the old veterans of the party when many among them were very displeased.

The trouble at Congress is not seeming to end anytime soon as many more people are leaving the party and joining their archrivals CPIM. Surprisingly, CPIM and other left organizations wasted no time and welcomed everyone who joined them from Congress. 

The acting state secretary of the CPM, A. Vijayaraghavan, stated that there will be more people joining them from Congress due to the crisis that Congress is finding itself in now, be it ideologically or in terms of functioning.

Veterans, including former MLA AV Gopinath, KPCC former general secretary, K P Anil Kumar, and some other prominent leaders who have served the party for more than 40years, ended their relationship with the party over the disagreement in the new reformation made by the AICC. 

Another critical incident associated with the dispute in the new changes made by the H.C. was by veteran leader V.M. Sudheeran, who resigned from the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) and the Political Affairs Committee (PAC).

Former DCC president P V Balachandran, who hails from Rahul Gandhi’s constituency, ended his 52-year long relationship with the party, stating that they failed to stop and check the growth of BJP in India.

Rumours are going on about more leaders quitting the party. If the new KPCC president cannot find a solution to stop this ongoing trouble at the state–level, the grand old party will likely meet a rather brutal end in Kerala.