Thiruvananthapuram: After the drubbing in the five Assembly elections, protests have commenced from the Congressmen against the national leadership of the party. The ire is mostly directed against General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal, who is from Kerala.
Flex boards came up on Sunday morning at many parts of Kozhikode in North Kerala against K.C. Venugopal making him accountable for the drubbing the party has received in the five states. The flex read, “K.C. resign from the AICC post or party leadership should kick him out”.
While the ire of the local party workers has been rising after the party lost the chance to come to power in Kerala in 2021 elections. Back-to-back electoral defeats in the state and at the national level have increased the dejection among the cadres and middle-level leaders.
Adding to the ire against Venugopal is his domination in Kerala’s Congress party’s affairs by appointing his key man V.D. Satheeshan as the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly after removing senior leader Ramesh Chennithala from the post.
The “I” and “A” factions in the Congress party, which were dominating the state Congress, have felt the pinch after the advent of K.C. Venugopal in the echelons of Congress power centres and interference in the state party affairs.
While K.C. Venugopal does not have ground support in Kerala, his closeness to 10 Janpath and Rahul Gandhi was the one reason why senior leaders of the Congress in Kerala were not openly coming out against him.
However, with the Congress getting weakened by the day at the national level and the G23 raising the banner of revolt, the state Congress leaders are trying to play a shadow game against K.C.Venugopal by using their group cadres to raise flex boards against the national general secretary.
In Kannur and Kasargod districts of North Kerala also, posters against Venugopal have appeared near all the Congress local offices.
The powerful, “I” and “A” group leaders of the Congress party were baying for the blood of K.C.Venugopal in covert and overt manners, but didn’t have had the guts to open a war against him due to his proximity to the national leaders, especially Rahul Gandhi.
With the Congress party battered and bruised in the elections, the Congress group leaders have started coming out against K.C. Venugopal.
