Power struggle pits senior Congress leaders against each other in Kerala

The latest round of the power struggle came as Satheesan took the initiative to give directions to Congress leaders from various districts to implement the strategies worked out at a party conclave held last week in Wayanad. The decisions taken at that conclave were aimed at readying the party ahead of the upcoming local body elections and the Assembly elections set to take place after that.

Satheesan’s moves irked KPCC functionaries close to Sudhakaran. They huddled together on Thursday to discuss what they saw as Satheesan’s bid to take control of party matters. They blamed the Opposition Leader of running a parallel system in the party, bypassing the state president.

Reacting to this meeting, Satheesan said, “As Opposition Leader, I am not above criticism. I, too, had criticised former Opposition leaders. I am ready to correct myself if there is substance in the criticism. I have no complaints.”

However on Friday, Satheesan boycotted a party meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram, which was meant to report the decisions taken at the Wayanad conclave. The conclave had stemmed from the party’s realisation that it cannot rest on its oars after the Lok Sabha elections, which saw the Congress-led UDF winning 18 out of 20 seats.

Both Sudhakaran and Satheesan were brought into the state Congress leadership as KPCC president and leader of the party in the Assembly, respectively, in 2021 after the UDF faced a rout in the Assembly elections.

The rift between the two leaders has come to the fore several times in the past. They had even argued before the media over who would kick off a press conference, with Sudhakaran telling Satheesan: “I am the KPCC president. I will start the press conference. You can speak later.”

During Lok Sabha elections, senior party leader M M Hassan was given charge as KPCC president because Sudhakaran was fighting the election from Kannur. Although Hassan was slated to continue until results were out, Sudhakaran insisted on returning as president soon after polling as he had feared an adverse outcome in the election could make his position more shaky. However, he won a second term as MP from Kannur by a record margin.