The Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) leadership and Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan have reportedly agreed to a truce at the behest of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president K. Sudhakaran after days of hostility that spilled onto the street twice last week.
INTUC workers had demonstrated against Mr. Satheesan at Changanassery and Kazhakuttam, accusing him of disowning the trade union and denying its ‘umbilical link’ with the Congress. Mr. Satheesan’s contentious remark had come in the wake of the national-level workers’ strike that sparked street violence and provoked public outrage in Kerala.
Mr. Sudhakaran conferred with Mr. Satheesan and INTUC president R. Chandrasekharan and declared the dispute settled. He said the party would take the anti-Satheesan demonstrators to task. The INTUC was melded with Congress, and both entities were inseparable.
However, Mr. Chandrasekharan refused to condemn the demonstrations publicly, fuelling speculation that the truce was merely on paper. Nonetheless, the trade unionist expressed faith in Mr. Sudhakaran’s leadership.
Mr. Satheesan had reportedly demanded action against the INTUC workers on the ground that "mutinous demonstrations" were an attempt to light the fuse and divide Congress further when the party was giving the government a rough ride over K-Rail.
Advantage CPI(M)
His camp saw more to the protests than mere criticism of an individual leader. An insider said the feuding would invariably advantage the CPI(M) by undermining popular support for the party's anti-SilverLine campaign.
Mr. Chandrasekharan had also reportedly earned mild disapproval in Congress by seeming to support the CITU leader Elamaram Karim, MP, in a television debate.
K.V. Thomas’s stance
The woes of Congress appeared not to end with the “resolution” of the “INTUC-Satheesan” stand-off. Speculation was rife that Congress veteran K.V. Thomas might jump ship by attending a CPI(M) party congress-related seminar in Kannur despite an All India Congress Committee ban.
CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said somewhat ominously that the party would welcome Mr. Thomas if he defied the Congress ban. “Such defiance would amount to something politically. Mr. Thomas is a former Union Minister known for his precise political positions. Currently, we have only invited him for the seminar,” he said rather open-endedly.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala met party president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi and reportedly aired his grievance about “being sidelined in the party and wrongly blamed for its internal battles”.
