Two prominent Congress leaders in Kerala have sounded caution about the state of affairs in the party and want the High Command to give top priority to revamp the leadership without any delay.
“It is true that we have suffered a set back in the recently held election to the local-self bodies. But it is not a failure which is insurmountable. There are some basic issues haunting the Kerala unit of the party which the national leadership should address without any delay,” V D Satheeshan, KPCC vice -president who is serving his fourth term as the member of the legislative assembly.
Satheeshan is of the view that party’s Kerala unit was lethargic and did not put up its full efforts during the election to the local bodies. “Please remember that we ad won 19 out of the 20 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. What we lacked this time was the kind of hard work which we saw during the parliament election,” he said.
There is still time to recoup the spirit of 2019, feels this leader who is the Congressman to watch in Kerala. “The local body election was held in a small canvas while the assembly election is an entirely different ball game. Once the proper leaders are in place in the State, Kerala would see entirely different results in the assembly poll,” said Satheeshan.
He pointed out past incidents when the local body polls and the subsequent assembly polls threw out entirely different results. “For that to happen, we have to pull up the sleeves and start working right now,” he said.
Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, who is serving his sixth term as MLA and a former minister for home, vigilance and water resources, too expressed his disappointment over the poor performance of the Congress in local body election.
“We can still win the assembly election provided the Congress High Command attend to the issues haunting the party. The cohesion and unity seen in the past were missing this time. If the leadership inspire the cadre with hard work and inculcate in them a spirit of unity, people will prefer only the Congress,” said Radhakrishnan.
The decision of the Muslim League to call back P K Kunhalikutty from the Lok Sabha to lead the Muslim League in the upcoming election has unnerved the Congress leaders.
“Chances of the Muslim League demanding the chair of the Chief Minister could not be ruled out. Last time they just walked away with five ministerial posts as the Congress leadership watched helplessly,” said another Congress leader.
