On Saturday, an apparently embattled Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran, MP, sent ripples around the State’s political spectrum by offering to resign in the face of the Crime Branch investigation targeting him as a suspect in the ‘financial shenanigans’ of the child abuse case convict and alleged fake antiquities dealer Monson Mavunkal.
Mr. Sudhakaran’s offer to step down came amidst a Statewide ‘Black Day’ protest by Congress workers and reports that the Crime Branch is fast expanding its investigation into his party aides. Mr. Sudhakaran said he vested his trust in the judicial process, repeatedly maintained his innocence, and welcomed the probe. However, he averred, somewhat ominously, that he did not want to be a political liability to his party.
Also read: KPCC Chief K. Sudhakaran arrested, released on bail in cheating case
Notably, the criminal investigations against Congress top brass, including the Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan, have come at a time when the party is trying to pull out of the post-2021 Assembly election debacle tailspin. The Congress believes that the cases against Mr. Sudhakaran and Mr. Satheesan are straight out of the ‘CPI(M)-established political playbook’.
Party leaders point out that on the eve of the 2021 Assembly elections, the Pinarayi Vijayan government dropped a political bombshell by promulgating an extraordinary notification authorising the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe a galaxy of Congress leaders, including former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, on the charge of seeking sexual favours from a financial scam suspect in exchange for political patronage. Three years later, the CBI closed the case for want of evidence.
The Congress stance seems evident in veteran leader A.K. Antony’s averment that the case against Mr. Sudhakaran will not stand legal scrutiny. All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K.C. Venugopal and Mr. Satheesan rallied behind Mr. Sudhakaran. So did an array of other top leaders.
Leadership vacuum
The Congress seems acutely aware that a leadership vacuum at the current juncture will not augur well for the party. Given Kerala’s peculiar socio-political equations, the party seems unwilling to gamble on a replacement for Mr. Sudhakaran immediately.
The Congress also perceives the inklings of a ‘tacit understanding’ between the CPI(M) and the BJP to undermine the party’s chances in the coming Lok Sabha polls. For one, an insider points out that BJP president K. Surendran’s statement that Rahul Gandhi’s ‘silence’ indicated Mr. Sudhakaran’s guilt was sufficient proof of the ‘covert alliance’.
