The disagreement over Congress leaders in Kerala attending seminars organised by the CPI(M) in Kannur reached Sonia Gandhi’s doorsteps on Monday but the party president asked invitees like Shashi Tharoor not to attend the programme after the state leadership objected to his participation.
The controversy generated over the issue once again exposed the chasm in the state Congress unit with Tharoor issuing a statement, saying he “respects her (Sonia’s) decision” and conveyed to the organisers his inability to attend the seminar on Centre-State relations.
A section of Congress leaders, including MPs, conveyed to Sonia that attendance of any party functionary at the CPI(M) programme would demoralise cadres at a time it is taking on the Left party on a variety of issues in the state.
However, Tharoor took an indirect swipe at Kerala Congress president K Sudhakaran in the statement, saying that he regretted that “some preferred the unseemly public airing of internal differences, thereby, creating a needless controversy in a matter in which AICC’s view was binding” and that he hoped wisdom would prevail in the future.
He said CPI(M) had invited him for a seminar on the sidelines of the CPI(M) state conference in Kochi and he had then consulted Sonia and a “suitable decision was taken without any media controversy”.
Defending his decision to initially accept the CPI(M) invitation, Tharoor said Congress has a “cooperative relationship” with the CPI(M) nationally and that the seminar on Centre-State relations did not involve any matter of sensitivity in Kerala. He argued that the event sets a fine example of intellectual exchange on policy issues among anti-BJP Opposition parties, which should in principle be encouraged.
Thiruvananthapuram MP Tharoor and senior leader K V Thomas are among the leaders who are invited by the CPI(M) but Sudhakaran earlier instructed all party leaders to keep away from the events. This was opposed by Tharoor who took the matter to the party president.
On Monday, sources said Sonia told Tharoor that the state Congress leadership had conveyed to her that it was not proper to attend the CPI(M) function and he should abide by the decision of the state leadership. She also held meetings with MPs from Kerala during which the lawmakers also expressed their opposition to Tharoor attending the seminar.
Sources said Tharoor told Sonia that he was attending the seminar not to praise the CPI(M) and insisted that these kinds of interactions are necessary for healthy democracy. However, Sonia told Tharoor that he should go by the state leadership’s decision.
During their meetings, sources said, Kerala MPs told Sonia that Tharoor’s presence on a CPI(M) platform would erode its standing at a time when the Congress is fighting the Pinarayi Vijayan government’s ambitious K-Rail project. Tharoor had initially supported the K-Rail project despite the party on the warpath against it but later changed tracks.
The MPs also pointed out that during the state CPI(M) conference, there were calls for ‘Congress-mukt Kerala’ and it would be demoralising for the workers if senior leaders attend CPI(M) programmes, sources said.
“CPI(M) is organising these seminars on issues of national importance and significance. There is no difference of opinion between the CPI(M) and the Congress on issues like Centre-State relations. Due to parochial reasons, if the regional leadership of the Congress is preventing a national leader like Tharoor, it is playing into the hands of the BJP,” CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Birttas said.
A senior Congress leader said that usually there should not be any problem in attending such functions but the venue and the political background associated with it makes it difficult for the party to allow it.
CPI(M) is holding its Party Congress in Kannur, where the leader said the workers of both the parties are at loggerheads. The leader claimed that Congress workers were at the receiving end of the CPI(M) in Kannur and senior functionaries being hosted by the CPI(M) would send a wrong signal to party workers.
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