Congress Kerala leader Ramesh Chennithala, recently replaced by the party as Leader of the Opposition, has in a letter to Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi protested over the ‘insulting manner’ of his removal, it is learnt. Chennithala is also learnt to have conveyed to Gandhi, a few days ago, that a flawed norm for candidates’ selection and poor organisational and campaign back-ups failed to build on, and effectively convey to the people the ‘political gains’ of his ‘serial expose’ of the LDF regime on ‘corruption’ and its administrative failures.Chennithala is also learnt to have rued about the failure of the Congress central leadership to provide the state party with adequate resources to counter the cash-rich campaign blitzkrieg unleashed by the LDF and BJP.According to party insiders, Chennithala reminded Gandhi how he had offered to quit his post after the poll defeat but was asked to carry on. Yet, removing him by citing report of AICC observers who subsequently talked to MLAs and in the name of ushering in change amounted to insulting him despite his hard work for Congress as LOP during the last five years and his long association with the party. He would have very well resigned on his own, he said.
Critiquing the AICC-imposed norm of having 55% new faces as Congress candidates, Chennithala is learnt to have pointed out to Gandhi that barring three, the remaining of the fresh candidates lost the polls. Incidentally, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra led the Congress campaign in Kerala. Chennithala’s letter coincides with reports that he and party veteran Oommen Chandy remained aloof in the ongoing AICC-initiated consultations to pick a new PCC chief.
Source: Economic Times
