Thiruvananthapuram : Groups slammed AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal for his overwhelming push to cram personal favourites into the KPCC office-bearers list. They also accused him of sabotaging the selection norms. Venugopal quickly countered that accusation saying he was not a leader out the blue and there was focused effort to lay all blame on his head. K Sudhakaran entered the scene backing KC Venugopal's views wholeheartedly. Wutg this the argument match on party re-organisation reached more heated levels. Incidentally, the final list, handed over to High Command, is expected to be announced Wednesday.
Venugopal kicked up controversy over insistence that two former DCC presidents including MP Vincent, and one woman leader be included in the list. Both A and I Groups protested the recommendations following which, Tariq Anwar, returned the proposed list asking to reconcile matters with senior leaders in the state. At the time Sudhakaran said returning to Kerala with list in its current form would mean facing huge outbursts. The final list was then formulated following talks held Tuesday between Opposition Leader VD Satheesan and Sudhakaran. At end of the day, the list reportedly included all names recommended by Venugopal.
Venugopal interventions included recommending for the list a woman leader who happens to be office bearer nationally. He also pitched for making former Kollam DCC president Bindu Krishna the Vice President. To see his wishes through, Venugopal called for modifying existing rule that diqualifies DCC presidents who might have resigned from their post. However the High Command stuck with Sudhakaran’s veiw that a compromise of set norms could see more dissent.
Meanwhile, Venugopal appeared in front of media denying any attempt on his part to dilute selection norms, adding that, decisions arrived at by state leaders shall be implemented wholly. It is not possible to cede to the argument that all close acquainted me should be discarded, Venugopal added.
In typical style, Sudhakaran who held discussions with Satheesan, did not meet up with seniors including Oomen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala. He also turned a deaf year to grumblings made by former DCC presidents.
