Posters appear in Kerala against Congress leaders

After humiliating defeat in five states, posters have started appearing in many parts of the state against Congress leadership and the All India Congress Committee general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, for second consecutive day on Sunday.

Posters were spotted in Kozhikode and Kannur areas. Earlier, state Congress president K Sudhakaran had warned party leaders not to take to social media or other platforms to isolate top leaders and criticise them.

Sudhakaran, known for his tough posture, asked leaders to share their opinion or dissent only in party forums. “Discipline foremost. If leaders air their opinion freely they will be held responsible,” he said, adding, it was unfair to criticise top leaders for the setback.

Later, people close to Venugopal also rallied behind the leader posting his pictures with Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi on their social media platforms. But many senior leaders like Ramesh Chennithala and Oommen Chandy have termed the defeat a temporary setback and said the party has enough strength to bounce back.

A section of the state leaders feel that Venugopal was behind the recent changes in the state unit which altered the equations in the party. Though factionalism was rampant in the state unit for quite some time, top leaders from the state have remained loyal to Gandhi family.

After the debacle in last year’s assembly elections, the party installed a new crop of leaders, appointing K Sudhakaran, a leader from Communist heartland Kannur as the PCC president and another grassroots leaders V D Satheesan as the opposition leader, sidelining two powerful groups led by former chief minister Oommen Chandy and senior leader Ramesh Chennithala who ruled the party for more than one and a half decade. Both are keeping a low profile since then.