Thiruvananthapuram : Arguments strengthen in RSP circles to leave UDF. At the Secretariat meeting held to assess election debacle, several leaders pressed for leaving the front. The present UDF affiliation stands on interests of just a couple of leaders, the members criticised at the meeting. In the press conference post the meeting too, hostilities on the topic RSP were rather too evident.
Scathing criticisms against Congress arose during the assessment meeting. Majority members agreed that group confrontations inside Congress had led to the gross election defeat. The meeting was also of the view that RSP largely remained an insignificant entity for 10 years owing to its alliance with the UDF and that if the ties are continued, several of the present followers might be gone forever. RSP’s dominant faction including the party State Secretary AA Aziz and Shibu Baby John argued for leaving UDF while a few including AK Premachandran said the alliance should stay.
At the press meet, AA Aziz admitted there were difference of opinions on leaving UDF, adding that the party will take an appropriate decision at a suitable time. A meeting of all district committees will be convened at Kollam on 9 August, to discuss and decide on the topic. At Tuesday meeting, Shibu Baby John said his leave was owing to personal reasons and that the party should move forward unified. Meanwhile Premachandran said, although Congress did not allocate a desirable seats, it would not be appropriate to leave a front just because of electoral defeat. He also named LDF amidst his barrage of criticisms.
What’s The Use Standing With Congress?
The excerpts of arguments at secretariat meeting at RSP’s headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram run thus :
“If things are left to continue like this, what would the plight of party be?; What’s the use of standing by Congress that’s unable to even elect a president for KPCC?; Where would all this lead our party to ?; Continuing with the UDF would be like digging one’s own grave;
Congress dumped sure-to-lose seats on RSP candidates and at places with likely victory, they played spoilsport; That’s just what happened in Chavara; The party suffered huge defeat in the local body elections too; How can you trust a party that installs rebels against its own candidates ; The meeting also called for recovering RSP’s lost Leftist image. RSP had MLAs when allied to LDF; It also had representatives at cooperatives and local self-government establishments. Now the party has been reduced to zero.”
