Thiruvananthapuram: The efforts of Congress leadership in Kerala to pacify party leader VM Sudheeran, who recently resigned from the political affairs committee (PAC) seems to not yield results as the senior leader relinquished his All India Congress Committee (AICC) membership on Monday.
The discontent brewing inside the Congress in Kerala had spilt out into the open after the party’s organization rejig was carried out following the drubbing suffered by United Democratic Front (UDF) in the last Kerala Assembly polls.
Sudheeran, who had stayed away from factionalism and group politics in Kerala for long, however, is yet to react to media regarding his decision.
Sources close to him pointed out that he was not happy with various decisions taken by the new leadership regarding the organisational restructure of the party and the way the announcement was made by leadership to make Congress a semi-cadre party.
Sources also said he had sent a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and AICC regarding the issues in the party in the state, prior to his resignation.
After Sudheeran’s resignation from PAC, AICC General Secretary for Kerala, Tariq Anwar had said that he would meet the Congress leader and discuss with him what prompted his actions.
However, before this meet could take place, Sudheeran resigned from AICC membership.
Both KPCC president K Sudhakaran and Kerala Leader of opposition VD Satheesan had reached out to him and the latter also visited Sudheeran at his house. “I held discussions with him.
He is a senior leader of the party and everyone knows if he takes a stand it is not easy to deter him from it. I personally apologised to him for any shortcomings on my part as I know some mistakes have occurred,” said Satheesan after the meeting on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Sudhakaran categorically denied that anyone is being sidelined by the party and opined that there is no need for any course correction.
“We are taking everyone together. The leadership has not sidelined anyone. Regarding organisational restructure also I spoke with Sudheeran. We are making decisions as per the direction of the AICC and if there are any shortcomings on the part of Kerala leadership AICC will point it out,” he said.
After the recent organization revamp in the Kerala Congress party, two general secretaries and a secretary in Kerala had quit the party and joined the ruling CPI(M).