Oommen Chandy's open defiance in Kerala, Congress High Command to intervene

The present crisis in the Congress is the result of decades long factional differences within the party.
Oommen Chandy's open defiance in Kerala, Congress High Command to intervene
Oommen Chandy's open defiance in Kerala, Congress High Command to intervene
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With former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy staying away from party events for the last one month, the Congress High Command has decided to address the issue.

Media reports say that Congress’s national leader Mukul Wasnik, who is in charge of the party in Kerala, has telephoned Chandy and they would soon meet in Delhi for compromise talks. The High Command reportedly wants to sort out the issue at the earliest, as Chandy remains a popular face of the party in Kerala despite the allegations against him.

The present crisis in the Congress is the result of decades long factional differences within the party.

The immediate reason for Chandy’s ire was that in the announcement of 14 new DCC (District Congress Committee) presidents on December 8, there were only four members from his faction, Congress A group, while the Congress I faction led by Ramesh Chennithala had seven members.

Though the central leadership and KPCC President VM Sudheeran said that selections were based purely on merit, Chandy was apparently unhappy and he stayed away from the protest against demonetisation held by the party on December 14.

Meanwhile, Chandy also approached senior leader AK Antony asking him to conduct organisational elections in the Kerala party, an idea which he had initially proposed in November 2016 itself.  

However recently Congress MP Kodikkunnel Suresh had expressed his displeasure in Chandy airing his dissent publicly. He said that Chandy should have approached the High Command instead of making public comments. He also said organisational elections are not possible in KPCC (Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee).

Factionalism issues have been present in Kerala Congress since 1950s. It was in 2014 though that the issues came back into focus after many years, when VM Sudheeran took charge as KPCC president amidst the objections by A and I groups.

There were allegations against Chandy as well from inside the party with some believing that Chandy was responsible for Congress’s failure in Kerala and that many tainted candidates were included in the list because he was adamant.

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