After Congress leader K Sudhakaran assumed office as Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday, June 16, nearly 100 Congress workers were booked for flouting COVID-19 protocol. The crowd was gathered at Indira Bhavan, the Congress’s office in Thiruvananthapuram, at the ceremony to induct Sudhakaran as president. The Museum police have registered cases against the Congress members under the Kerala Epidemic Diseases Act. "About 100 of them had not observed COVID-19 protocol in place, including physical distancing and wearing masks properly," said an official at the Museum police station. Kerala has been under lockdown for over a month to control the spread of the pandemic during the second wave.
K Sudhakaran took over as the new KPCC president in the morning, expressing confidence.
"I seek the help of each and every Congress worker in the state and please give me your hands and if you give me your hand, I assure you, we will bounce back. At the moment please do not expect to become an office bearer of the party, instead let us all work at the grassroots to build our party. I also assure each one of you that I will see that through my acts or doings I will not create any damage to our party," he said after assuming the position of president.
Coming down heavily on the recent statement of the CPI(M) hinting that he is an extension of the BJP/RSS, Sudhakaran breathed fire on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. "Everyone knows that it's Pinarayi Vijayan who has taken the help of the BJP/RSS, when he contested. It's only the Congress which has fought the BJP/RSS and no other party," said Sudhakaran. Outgoing president Mullapally Ramachandran also said that “everyone knows the second Pinarayi Vijayan government came to power because of a secret understanding between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and him.”
"Even though we lost the Assembly polls, the difference in the vote percentage between Congress and the CPI(M) is only around 0.5% and hence we have no reason to be disappointed. We can and we will come back strongly and for that we all should work together as one," said Mullappally Ramachandran.
Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan reminded everyone that the Congress party has a different style of functioning than the other political parties in the state. "Ours is a party where everyone can discuss and debate and we have an array of senior leaders who will be there to take us forward with our new president Sudhakaran. In the past also our party here suffered an even worse electoral reversal (1969). So we can all work together and come back," said Satheesan.
(With IANS inputs)