Congress veteran V M Sudheeran quits from party's political affairs committee

Thiruvananthapuram: As AICC general secretary in-charge of Kerala, Tariq Anwar, is reaching the state capital to finalise the 51-member organisational structure of the party, veteran leader and former Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief V M Sudheeran resigned from the political affairs committee (PAC) of the party's state unit.

The PAC is the highest decision-making body of the state unit of the party and comprises the be-all and end-all of the top brass. The 73-year-old leader put in his papers to the new state president K.Sudhakaran on Friday.

Quoting party sources, PTI reports that the displeasure over the reshuffle procedures and the working style of the present leadership under new KPCC Chief K Sudhakaran was said to be the reasons behind his sudden decision.

According to reports, Sudheeran is irked with the attitude of the new leadership of Sudhakaran and Leader of Opposition V.D.Satheesan is not taking him into confidence despite being a former state party president, legislator, Lok Sabha member, minister and a former speaker.

Reacting to the reports of Sudheeran's resignation, senior Congress leader and MLA, P T Thomas said the KPCC Chief would intervene in the issue and clear any misunderstanding of the veteran. He also said Sudhakaran had visited Sudheeran at his home recently and held a detailed discussion.

Thomas, also the working president of the KPCC, said major discussion or consultation with regard to the reshuffle of the state unit leadership was yet to be started.

Ever since the Sudhakaran-Satheesan team took over with the full blessings of the party high command, ignoring the traditional faction managers of Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala has been a norm.

Recently, KPCC former general secretary K P Anil Kumar and its secretary P S Prashanth had resigned from the primary membership of the grand old party over the selection of new DCC presidents.

Known for his non-corrupt and idealist image, Sudheeran's firm stand on various issues had led to differences between him and many of his party colleagues in the past.

Meanwhile, a media critic on the condition of anonymity told IANS that Sudheeran's quitting might not make much of a difference.

"Many Congressmen will recall on how after Sudheeran took over as state party president in 2014 what happened when he took open positions against the then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's government policies, especially the liquor policy and it reached a point of no return which led to a total washout of the Congress-led UDF in the 2016 assembly polls", he said

"The state unit of the Congress party has not recovered after that loss", the media critic added.