Utter chaos prevails in the Congress party in Kerala after the setback the party suffered in the local body polls as poster campaigns against party leaders are surfacing and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and BJP leader and minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan alleging that the Congress leadership is in the grip of Indian Union Muslim League.
While the Congress leaders defend the allegations of IUML dictating terms as an attempt by the Chief Minister to trigger communal divide for electoral advantage, the party leaders are quite embarrassed over the public display of resentment by party leaders as well as the poster campaigns.
AICC general secretary Tariq Anwar, who is in charge of Kerala, even urged all party leader to refrain from airing their differences publicly. "Instead, the grievances shall be taken up at party forums," he urged.
Posters of senior Congress leaders and Lok Sabha MPs like K Muraleedharan and K Sudhakaran with a request to make them the party chiefs to save the Congress appeared in various parts of the state.
Posters accusing some party leaders of trading votes for BJP also appeared. But the party leadership is unable to suppress the resentment which is indeed adding salt to the injury caused by the party, that too when the Assembly polls are hardly five months away.
Meanwhile, leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala and other Congress leaders alleged that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was trying to play communal cards eyeing at electoral benefits by alleging that IUML was dictating terms to Congress.
IUML national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty said that IUML never interfered in Congress's leadership issues or demands for leadership changes. But the Congress need to earn the confidence of the people ahead of the Assembly polls, he said.