Notwithstanding the groundswell of support it made in the district on the back of the anti-SilverLine protests, the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kottayam appears to be bogged down by the factional preoccupations within the Congress.
The latest round of infighting, which had begun with a protest march by the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) workers against Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan, reached its peak with Nattakom Suresh, president of the District Congress Committee, abstaining from a meeting against the semi-high-speed rail project led by Mr. Satheesan. Later, Mr. Suresh openly expressed his displeasure over he not being informed in advance about the visit of the Leader of the Opposition.
‘Valid reason’
According to Mr. Suresh, he abstained from the meeting to uphold the dignity of the post he holds. “You may attend a funeral without being invited, not the memorial service,” he quipped. Holding that he had clear reasons to skip the meeting, Mr. Suresh said that as the DCC president, he would always get information in advance when leaders like Oommen Chandy, Ramesh Chennithala and K. Sudhakaran scheduled their visit to the district.
The discontent within the party, meanwhile, appears to have spilled over to the UDF as well with a section supporting Josy Sebastian, convener of the UDF in the district, coming out against Mr. Suresh. They accused him of being upset over being omitted from the UDF campaign in connection with the protest.
Committees defunct
The faction supporting Mr. Suresh, on the other hand, is miffed at Mr. Sebastian holding two posts — as the UDF district convener and the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary — simultaneously. The raging war, in turn, has affected the functioning of the UDF across the district with many of the coalition committees at the grassroots lying defunct.
