Thiruvananthapuram, (Samajweekly) One step forward and two steps backward appears to be the pattern of the Congress party in Kerala, as it refuses to learn from its continued failures.
Depite smarting under one of its worst ever poll reversals which enabled CPI-M Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan get a second successive term by winning handsomely at the April 2021 Assembly polls, the party is in total disarray.
A deep analysis reveals till a few years back, there were only two major factions in the party, one led by former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and the other by Ramesh Chennithala.
Today there are numerous groups and unfortunately, the allegiance of these faction leaders keep changing.
Other than Chandy and Chennithala, there are other factions headed by new president K.Sudhakaran, Leader of Opposition V.D.Satheesan, then AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C.Venugopal besides Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, K.Muraleedharan also are trying to stay in the race.
A media critic on condition of anonymity said it’s unfortunate that the Congress and its numerous leaders and their aides refuse to gauge the public sentiment that they are fed up with this ever warring group of leaders.
“For long, there were just two factions one headed by K.Karunakaran and the other led by A.K.Antony and with the turn of the century, it was taken over by Chennithala and Chandy. With the defeat of Chandy at the 2016 Assembly polls and he taking a back seat, there were lot of changes. After the 2021 defeat, things went haywire and practically every top leader appears to run his own faction and even sadder is the allegiance of these faction leaders also keep changing. If the party and these leaders do not mend their ways, it’s going to be curtains,” said the critic who did not wished to be identified.
Another lacunae is with the Congress party at the national level also caught in a few issues with the G-23 faction, the once powerful high command also is unable to reign in its party and its faction leaders. With the organisational polls round the corner, it remains to be seen if a new set of office-bearers are elected through the ballot, if not, it can spell doom for the grand-old-party, here.
