Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress in Kerala is gearing up for the Lok Sabha polls by conducting district-level party meetings aimed at motivating the party cadres.
The move has come amidst power struggle in the party right from the top to the bottom. Hence, addressing the simmering differences within the party also seems to be an agenda of the district level meetings.
The first district-level meeting was held at Kozhikode on Wednesday. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K Sudhakaran and Opposition leader V D Satheesan addressed the party cadres. The leaders said that a pro-Congress wave was already prevailing in the state and cautioned that the CPI(M) and BJP were having nexus to defeat the Congress.
Similar meetings and demonstrations would be held in all districts in the coming days. The state leaders will interact with the district leaders and also hold demonstrations. The meetings are also held as a prelude to a Kerala yatra to be led by the PCC president by January – February.
Subsequent to the recent reconstitution of the party down to the grassroot level, the Congress has been witnessing altercations at many districts over power struggles. In some districts like Kollam and Malappuram, the power struggle came out in the open.
A power struggle among the state leaders also came up for strong criticism from within the party recently. Opposition leader Satheesan and PCC president Sudhakaran were involved in a petty argument over who will address the media after winning the assembly bypoll in Puthuppally constituency. There were reports that veteran leader A K Antony also expressed strong displeasure over such instances.
Coalition partners of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) are also unhappy over the power struggle in the Congress especially since power struggle in the party was considered to be one reason for UDF’s defeat in last assembly polls.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, UDF had a sweeping victory in Kerala by winning 19 of the 20 seats, including that of Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad. The party leaders are expressing hopes of a similar show in 2024 too even as a decision on Gandhi’s candidature at Wayanad was still pending.
(Published 25 October 2023, 13:55 IST)