Ramesh Chennithala, one of Kerala’s senior most Congress legislators, admitted on Monday, September 11, that he was hurt when he came to know he would remain a permanent invitee in the Congress Working Committee (CWC) even after it was newly reconstituted in August. Pointing out that leaders who were junior to him were elevated above him, Chennithala told media persons that when he heard this news, he was saddened like any ordinary man with emotions would be. “I realised there was still no change in my position as a permanent invitee, which I have been for the past 19 years. But I have always been loyal to the party and I have never even considered leaving it,” he said, adding that he would relay his grievances to the party high command.
The CWC is the “highest executive authority” of the party, comprising 39 members, 32 permanent invitees, nine special invitees and four ex-officio members. It has been speculated that several of the state’s top Congress leaders were miffed with the elevation of Thiruvananthapuram Member of Parliament (MP) Shashi Tharoor as a permanent member. Tharoor became a Congress party member only in 2009, while leaders like Chennithala have been in the party for more than four decades.
When the committee was reconstituted in August, Chennithala had informed the media that though he was disappointed, he wasn’t interested in publicly responding on the matter. Notably, the reconstitution had happened at a time when the campaign for the Puthuppally bye-election was at its peak in Kerala.
On Monday, Chennithala pointed out to the media that he hasn’t held any official position in the Congress party after being the Leader of Opposition from 2016 to 2021. He said he had felt similarly hurt back in 2021, when he was replaced from the position of Leader of Opposition after the Left Democratic Front government came to power for a second consecutive time. “But I have always given my best to the party and will continue to do so,” said the 67-year-old leader. When asked, he clarified that he did not think any Congress leader from Kerala had plotted against him. Taking a dig at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, he also said that he and other Congress leaders did not have the “habit of running away from the media.”
Responding to Chennithala’s grievances, Congress state president K Sudhakaran said the national party leadership should take the issue seriously. “It is natural that he feels saddened in this situation and the party accepts his concerns. I am promising that he will always get the standing he deserves in the party,” he said.
Senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan also extended his support to Chennithala, stating that “what has to be said indeed has to be said” at appropriate times. Notably, Muraleedharan has frequently and publicly raised criticisms against the internal functioning of the Congress party in Kerala, irking the leaders of the state unit.
Chennithala, who holds the record of becoming Kerala’s youngest minister at the age of 28, has also served as the Home Minister of Kerala for two years from 2014 under the second Oommen Chandy ministry. He has been a legislator for five terms from the Haripad Assembly constituency in Alappuzha district, besides representing the Kottayam and Mavelikara Parliamentary constituencies in the Lok Sabha for a total of four terms.
With inputs from IANS