Sudheeran cracks the whip on party men

Congressmen in Kerala will do well not to speak out of turn or try to lobby for their candidature in the upcoming general elections. A strong message to this effect has been delivered by the newly anointed chief of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) VM Sudheeran. As Sudheeran gets down to business in his typical no-nonsense style, he chose an ideal platform to warn his unruly colleagues. At the first meeting of the party Executive Committee he chaired in his official capacity at Kollam earlier this week, the new KPCC Chief took the proverbial bull by the horns. The trigger was a ‘provocative’ statement from K Sudhakaran, MP from Kannur, who sought to make light of Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s exhortations against factionalism in the party. During her whistle-stop tour of the state the previous day, Sonia had warned various factions against “pulling the party in different directions”. “From now on, the party will fight as a single group,” the party chief told a large gathering in no uncertain terms as she effectively put the Kerala unit on the campaign trail. Sudhakaran, the firebrand leader from Kannur who arrogates to himself somewhat deservingly the credit of keeping the party fighting fit in what is considered a core CPM bastion, could not wait to respond. “It is foolish for anybody to think of the party sans groups,” was his loaded comment delivered with suitable doses of bluster even while taking care not to name the party President. Quick ruling Sudheeran could hardly ignore the slight. Delegates at the meeting described his response as an instantaneous ‘ruling’, delivered with appropriate gravitas in accordance with his capacity as a former Speaker of the Kerala Assembly. Sudheeran stressed that henceforth, he will not tolerate sitting MPs unilaterally announce their candidature. “They should be careful while making comments about allies and their relations with the party,” he said. The ‘ruling’ was duly interpreted as a warning by the rest of the participants Speaking to newspersons after the meeting, Sudheeran said the Congress President’s statements or official stand are “final and binding on all”. “The party will not tolerate any dissent on this count and neither will it allow anybody to express himself in a different voice. “It is unfortunate that Sudhakaran should have chosen to go to town in the manner he did,” Sudheeran said even while giving Sudhakaran due credit for his “excellent work” in Kannur. Source :  http://www.samachar.com/Sudheeran-cracks-the-whip-on-party-men-ocswMvhfaah.html