Thiruvananthapuram: The rout in the neighborhood body elections has set off fireworks inside Congress as nicely as the United Democratic Front (UDF), with a quantity of leaders accusing the celebration leadership of a clear disconnect with folks and calling for a total revamp of the celebration apparatus.
K Sudhakaran, Rajmohan Unnithan and K Muraleedharan demanded that all the leaders of district units will have to be changed forthwith, though also raising the heat for a alter of leadership at the top rated, such as state celebration president Mullappally Ramachandran and opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala.
UDF constituents, such as Indian Union Muslim League and RSP, also blamed the internal squabbles in Congress for the poor functionality of front candidates. To regain people’s self-confidence for the coming assembly elections, Congress has to sort out its challenges 1st, a meeting of IUML held to overview the election benefits concluded. Groupism, which has been a bane of the party’s functioning in Kerala, was blamed for poor choice of candidates and there have been allegations that celebration tickets have been even sold though the celebration apparatus failed to provide economic assistance to money-strapped candidates.
The district celebration units in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam and Idukki have been specifically targeted for criticism. Considered regular bastions of the celebration, these districts saw the ruling LDF make a virtual sweep in all the 3 levels of neighborhood bodies, which came as a rude shock to each Congress as nicely as the UDF.
The celebration has not been capable to reconcile to the loss of Pathanamthitta, which was till now an impregnable fort of the UDF. Congress was so robust in the district that it could so far cobble a majority in any neighborhood body on its personal strength.
While it is accurate that the alter of sides by the Kerala Congress faction led by Jose K Mani helped LDF to consolidate its position in the district, it is extensively believed that the genuine explanation lay elsewhere. All the 5 MLAs in the former Congress fortress are today held by LDF.
It is pointed out that the total whitewash in the district is even beyond the expectations of the LDF, which is an indication of the depth to which each Congress and UDF have fallen.
A controversial hook-up with the Welfare Party, an outfit of Muslim basic components, by Congress in the north was extensively interpreted as compromising the secular credentials of the celebration. The state leadership was vertically split on the situation, with the state celebration chief and other individuals asserting that the celebration had no truck with the Welfare celebration. The controversy continued to the final day of polling and the LDF exploited the hyperlink-up to the tilt all through the state.
While a section of the state celebration has develop into very vital of the celebration leadership, the higher command is leant to be standing by Mullappally and Chennithala.