Ramesh Chennithala on wrong side of Nair Service Society

Thiruvananthapuram: Community-based organisations like Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam and Nair Service Society are keeping a safe distance from the Congress. When a group of Congress leaders met NSS general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair at Perunna recently, he lashed out at Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala and other prominent Nair 'I' group leaders citing that they were  not at all ‘reliable.’ It may be recalled that  Mr Sukumaran Nair had  ensured a ‘key post’ for Mr Chennithala who became  the home minister in the previous UDF government after antagonising former chief minister Oommen Chandy.

Mr Chennithala has visited Perunna on various occasions over the last several years. But recently not all has been well between him and Mr Sukumaran Nair with both camps not revealing the reasons for the relations going sour. However, Mr Sukumaran Nair told DC that NSS had cordial relations with all the politicians belonging to different parties. He maintained that NSS had  never any affinity towards a particular political party. “NSS has raised its voice against social injustice, but has distanced itself from the internal matters of the Congress or any other political party,”  he said.

On his first visit to the NSS headquarters at Perunna after taking over as the new PCC chief in 2014, Mr V. M. Sudheeran got a rude shock when Mr Sukumaran Nair allegedly refused to meet him. After that Mr Sudheeran  never tried to meet the NSS chief and vice versa. There were  earlier instances too when Mr Sudheeran had publicly told SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellapally Natesan that he didn’t require the backing of the organization as he reached the echelons of power as a Congress party worker and never used the label as  an Ezhava leader.

Mr Vellapally told DC that Mr Sudheeran has been playing politics by snubbing the Ezhava community so as to get the votes of the minority communities. “Sudheeran’s action backlashed against the Ezhava candidates M. Liju and Bindu Krishna in the 2016 and 2011 Assembly elections. Liju came second in Kayamkulam constituency and Bindu Krishna was  third in Chathannoor seat,”  said Mr Vellapally. He also said that  Mr  Chennithala and Mr Sudheeran had joined hands sidelining Mr Chandy who has been sulking in the appointments of DCC presidents. The Catholic Church has been close to senior leaders like Mr A. K. Antony and Mr Oommen Chandy. But the kind of camaraderie  K. Karunakaran shared with all the community organisations  was better.   Congress has shared good rapport with the Muslim League, except for minor differences they had with leaders like Mr Chennithala on and off