After record, third group emerges in Congress

Express News Service
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: If the Congress state unit needed to grapple solely with ‘I’ and ‘A’ teams until now, a 3rd group has emerged underneath the highly effective nationwide common secretary (organisation), Okay C Venugopal, after the candidate choice for the meeting elections, to the utter dismay of get together employees. It was former Congress state president VM Sudheeran who first got here up with such an allegation. It has since been taken up by get together working president Okay Sudhakaran, MP, and in addition by the Oommen Chandy camp. Venugopal is learnt to have accommodated almost a dozen of his loyalists within the candidate record which has opened a Pandora’s field within the Congress.

Since the announcement of Sajeev Joseph because the Congress candidate within the Irikkur meeting constituency kicked up a serious storm within the Kannur Congress politics, with ‘A’ group leaders and employees deciding to avoid election work if their chief Sony Sebastian shouldn’t be fielded, Venugopal’s identify has cropped up because the individual liable for the event.

Sajeev initially belonged to the ‘I’ group. But his work because the state Congress’ common secretary accountable for Performance Assessment System (PAS), which was initiated to grade the efficiency of the 14 DCC presidents, earned plaudits from the state and central get together management. When Rahul Gandhi, MP, determined to emulate the Kerala mannequin in the remainder of the nation in 2013, it was led by Sajeev. 

Sajeev’s detractors allege that if not for Venugopal, he wouldn’t have gotten the get together ticket. A bit of Congress leaders alleged that P M Niyaz (Beypore), M Liju (Ambalappuzha), Sumesh Achuthan (Chittur) and Mathew Kuzhalnadan (Muvattupuzha) are only a few “two-in-one” candidates who present allegiance to each the ‘I’ group and Venugopal. 

However, Congress state president Mullappally Ramachandran denied vehemently that Venugopal has fashioned a bunch. “I can vouch for Venugopal’s sincerity as he has never intervened in the candidature. He is working in the larger interest of the party. Venugopal did not argue for a single candidate including Sajeev Joseph, who got the Irikkur seat due to his extraordinary work as a party office-bearer. I would say that there has been a deliberate and calculated move from certain vested interests to start revolt against Sajeev,” Mullappally informed TNIE.