Reasserting the state Congress leadership’s belligerent mood to defeat the pressure tactics of the old powerhouses in the state Congress, KPCC president K Sudhakaran and Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan rubbished criticism raised by senior leaders Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala over the appointment of new DCC chiefs.
Both Sudhakaran and Satheesan, speaking to media separately, said the allegation that Chandy and Chennithala were not consulted enough before finalising the DCC chiefs was wrong.
Sudhakaran said Chandy's statement was untrue. Sudhakaran showed a diary in which he had entered the names suggested by Chandy to mediapersons to substantiate his claim. Sudhakaran and Satheesan said two rounds of discussions were held with Chandy and Chennithala before finalising the names.
Sudhakaran said the two leaders were not ready to give their nominees for the DCC chiefs in writing.
Sudhakaran and Satheesan spoke to media after Chandy and Chennithala publicly aired their dissatisfaction over the manner in which the new DCC chiefs were appointed.
Sudhakaran said the leaders who complain that they were not consulted should do a self introspection about the procedures they had followed when they were in key positions.
"I was a KPCC working president for four years when Mullappally Ramachandran was president. I was not consulted even once when several rounds of restructuring were done in the party during that period. This time, we consulted all the leaders and stakeholders before finalising the names," he said.
"I was sad to hear Oommen Chandy's remarks. He shouldn't have said that,” the KPCC chief said.
Echoing Sudhakaran's arguments, Satheesan said the two senior leaders should not have expected to fill share the DCC presidents' posts in all the 14 districts between their groups.
"If that was to happen, then what is the point in us sitting in these positions? When we took charge, we had made it clear that there will be a change in the way of functioning of the party," Satheesan said.
He said Chandy and Chennithala should have refrained from making public statements.
On the suspension of K P Anilkumar and Sivadasan Nair from the party for publicly questioning the leadership, Sudhakaran said there was no need to wait for the leaders' explanation as the remarks they made were explicit and inappropriate.
Sudhakaran said the ongoing protests against the DCC restructuring were only at a small scale. Satheesan said the outrage against the list seemed to be a scripted one.
Diary comes in handy for Sudhakaran
While speaking at press conference here, the KPCC president countered the allegations raised by Oommen Chandy by showing a diary in which he had written the names of those suggested by the former Chief Minister for DCC president posts.
Sudhakaran said the reaction of a senior person of the stature of Chandy has pained him. He clarified that he had held consultations with Chandy twice.
Chandy had stated the party leadership had not made enough consultations before appointing new DCC chiefs.
