Admission bill exposes divided Congress

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Congress groupism has again come to the fore in the wake of the medical admission Bill fiasco. AICC general secretary K. C. Venugopal, MP, has backed V. T. Balram, MLA, who had warned against passing the Bill.  However,  Venugopal,  a staunch member of the 'I' camp led by Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala, has spoken against group politics in a television interview. Venugopal   is a trusted lieutenant of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and has been given the responsibility of steering the party to victory in the Karnataka Assembly elections.

Venugopal maintained that   dissenting voices in the party have always been an attraction. "The party is not going to survive if the leaders think that it is group politics which should dominate.  Group is not religion, "he said. "Unfortunately, nowadays such dissenting voices are not being heard. When important policy matters are being discussed, the senior leaders should hold talks with party colleagues,"  said Venugopal. But his words have not gone down well with a section of the Congress leaders.

"Venugopal has been a staunch member of the 'I' group. Now he is eyeing the KPCC president's post. With his proximity to Rahul Gandhi and the expectations of the party romping home in Karnataka,  Venugopal is dreaming of becoming the next KPCC president by openly speaking against group politics,"  a senior Congress leader told  DC.  A day after youth MLA Roji M. John came out against Balram's stand in the admission issue, another youth MLA K. S. Sabarinadhan too expressed his displeasure against him. In a Facebook post, Sabarinadhan said that when the UDF had discussed the Bill in the UDF, Balram had not expressed his dissent. "It is unfortunate that at the last minute, Balram expressed his anti-party stand,"he said.  

It may be recalled that Balram has faced flak from his senior party colleagues on numerous occasions for his controversial posts on Facebook. Early this year, the KPCC leadership was caught in a quandary against his comment on iconic CPM leader A. K. Gopalan's love with a 12-year-old girl. But he has a huge fan following among the Congress leaders for being blunt when they are unable to express their views openly. There are only very few Congress leaders in the state who are not attached to any groups. Notable among them are former KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran and MPs Mullapally Ramachandran, Shashi Tharoor and K. V. Thomas,      who once  belonged to the Karunakaran camp.