Thiruvananthapuram: Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and his camp was caught unawares when Kollam DCC president Bindu Krishna was appointed as the UDF’s women front chairperson last week. ‘A’ camp is peeved with their rival ‘I’ camp led by Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala as a majority of the feeder organisations under the party are under his control. Bindu Krishna was given the latest post last Wednesday where the decision was taken by Chennithala.
‘A’ group feels that the ploy of Chennithala is to entrust Bindu Krishna in strengthening the party’s women force, especially the ‘I’ group, in all districts eventually. This has not gone down well with Chandy as he came to know of her appointment only during the weekend when youth leaders alerted him. Along with the ‘A’ group, women leaders are also fuming as they feel that that Bindu Krishna is already holding three our other posts – Kollam DCC president, Mahila Congress president and All India Mahila Congress vice-president.
“Appointments such as the UDF women front chairperson should have been discussed in the party forum first. This appointment has been taken unilaterally by Chennithala”, said an ‘A’ group leader. Meanwhile, several feeder organisations like Jawahar Balavedhi, IT cell and Desiya Kayika Vedhi are with the Chennithala camp. During V. M. Sudheeran’s tenure as KPCC president, he had quit the director post of Jaihind TV and Veekshanam, the party television channel and the mouth piece. It has since been taken over by Chennithala by his recent appointment of his trusted lieutenant who was a journalist based in New Delhi, B. S. Shiju as the director of Jaihind TV and also as the director of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Development Studies, Neyyar Dam.
It should be recalled that though Thrikkakara MLA, P. T. Thomas is the managing editor of Veekshanam, he was earlier attached to the ‘A’ group and has since parted ways after Chandy’s trusted lieutenant, Benny Behanan was not given the seat. At the same time, when Sudheeran had distanced himself from the K. Karunakaran Foundation when he was the KPCC president, Chennithala grabbed the opportunity to take it over making his ‘I’ group thrive by wresting control over one more organisation.
