Factionalism appeared to be well and alive in the Congress in Kerala. Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan has seen an intra-party plot against Congress leadership in the Indian National Trade Union Congress’s (INTUC) high-profile protest against him in Kottayam on Friday.
INTUC workers demonstrated at Changanassery against Mr. Satheesan's statement that there was no equivalence between the INTUC and the Congress.
Mr. Satheesan had earlier railed against the disruption to everyday life caused by the recent 48-hour national strike called by the Joint Council of Trade Unions. He had condemned the attacks on motorists, passersby, and the forced closure of shops by strike supporters.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan later termed Mr. Satheesan's remark as sanctimonious talk. The INTUC had backed the strike.
Mr. Balakrishnan pointed out that political work often overlapped with trade union commitments. Most CPI(M) and Congress leaders had a trade union background, and Mr. Satheesan was no exception.
Compelled to distance the Congress from the strike-related violence, Mr. Satheesan said the INTUC was Congress's feeder organisation. The party and its trade union were elementally different.
Mr.Satheesan said somewhat cryptically that an active cabal of saboteurs seemed not to lose any opportunity to undermine the Congress. Last month, he had blamed the unnamed group for planting news stories that he had fallen out with Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president K. Sudhakaran.
Mr. Satheesan felt the coterie had engineered the protest in Changanassery. He said the same clique often used social media to attack the party.
He warned them that Congress leadership was strong enough to bridle the set. He said the Congress shared a different relationship with its trade union. The INTUC was not the “Mahila Congress or Seva Dal” of the party, he said. The KPCC would look into the INTUC protest.
INTUC State president and Congress leader R. Chandrasekharan condemned the protest against Mr. Satheesan. He said the INTUC would hold an inquiry.
Some insiders viewed Mr. Satheesan’s insinuation as a reflection of the “ongoing tussle” between an emergent group led by the Leader of the Opposition and the I-faction guided by Ramesh Chennithala. However, both groups have denied the existence of such a spat. The Congress is in the throes of reorganisation ahead of inner-party elections in May.
