Congress VP Rahul Gandhi's ultimatum to groups in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has told  the Congress leaders from the state that  “the party is supreme, not group politics,  or else they can leave.” 

In a brainstorming session with the Kerala leaders,  Mr. Gandhi said all were  responsible for the defeat in the Assembly elections.  The four-hour meeting was held at AICC’s ‘war room’ aka Congress coordination centre at 15, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road,  in New Delhi.

A number of Congress leaders from Kerala met Mr. Gandhi at 2 p.m. Party sources told DC that the concept of the war room was mooted by senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh in 2009 before the general elections which becomes active when Assembly elections and Lok Sabha elections are held.  

Mr. Gandhi did not blame KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran  and said it was a collective failure of the KPCC that led to the poll debacle. After realising the move by ‘A’ and ‘I’ groups against Mr Sudheeran, he directed the leaders not to attack a single individual in the name of defeat.

 Mr. Gandhi told the leaders that the party revamping would not be done on group basis.  The jumbo DCC committees would be terminated after almost all the 70-odd leaders raised the same issue before him.  Mr. Gandhi held one-to-one talks later.

“Rahul Gandhi’s  only concern was to revive the party in the state and bring it back to its glory,” said a senior Congress leader. Mr. Gandhi said that if the three senior leaders of the party join together, the party can make a comeback.
Some of the leaders opined that corruption allegations against the UDF government were one of the reasons for the defeat.

Mr. Gandhi has promised to meet KPCC general secretaries and Youth Congress leaders on Friday. On the first day of the session, apart from Mr Sudheeran, former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala, KPCC vice-presidents, MPs, MLAs, candidates in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, former governors, former KPCC presidents and feeder organisation representatives met Mr. Gandhi.

Congress group war hots up
The group politics in Congress here is heating up with the AICC beginning a two-day discussion with selected leaders from Kerala on Thursday in a bid to revamp the Congress in the state.

From Thrissur district, where the party suffered a major setback by losing 12 out of the total 13 seats in the Assembly elections, five leaders will share their views with the AICC

DCC acting president P.A. Madhavan, the lone MLA from Thrissur Anil Akkara, KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran's close aid T.N. Prathapan, senior leader K.P. Dhanapalan, who had lost from Thrissur in the Lok Sabha elections and from Kogungallur segment in Assembly elections, and KPCC general secretary Padmaja Venugopal have reached Delhi to talk to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on the further course of action for the party in the district.

Former Thrissur MP and Congress official spokesperson P.C. Chacko will also attend the consultations. It is learnt that Mr Prathpan, Mr T.V. Chandramohan, who is former MLA and Guruvayur Devaswom Managing Committee president, and Ms Padmaja Venugopal are eying the DCC president's post in Thrissur during the proposed revamp in the party.

Though former minister and 'I'group leader in the district C.N. Balakrishnan was invited by the AICC for talks, due to ill-health, he could not fly to Delhi.