A conflict is reportedly brewing in the Congress over who should be credited with masterminding the Thrikkakara Assembly byelection victory.
Some sections had portrayed Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan as the architect of the win. Thrikkakara had boosted the flagging fortunes of the Congress after losing two straight Assembly elections and coming a distant second in the local body polls.
A billboard campaign had hailed Mr. Satheesan as the "new leader" in the making. In traditional Congress circles, "leader" refers solely to the late Chief Minister K. Karunakaran.
However, there seemed to be some resentment in the Congress over using the "haloed designation" to lionise and fete Mr. Satheesan as the sole draughtsman of the byelection win.
Glorification
The bid to glorify Mr. Satheesan drew paeans of praise and darts of toxic criticism on social media.
A Youth Congress functionary penned a lyric on social media mocking the move to elevate any single person as a leader.
K. Muraleedharan, MP, said Thrikkakara was no one person’s triumph. “Collective will and effort had scripted the hard-fought victory,” he said without stating who he targetted.
Mr. Satheesan said he would not accept such an epithet. “I would not fall into the obvious traps of flattery. Whoever has placed the boards has done so with mischievous intent. Such attempts to glorify a single leader do not improve the Congress unity. There is only one leader, and it is K. Karunakaran,” he said.
The Congress claimed that voters' anger against the SilverLine project had contributed to its strong showing in Thrikkakara.
It also attributed the win to the constituency's regard for the late P.T. Thomas and booth committee-level campaigning characterised by neighbourhood-level meetings and knock-on-doors electioneering.
The Congress also felt that it had nibbled away at Twenty20 and BJP votes. The KPCC has called a leadership meeting to finalise a strategy to consolidate the party’s gains in Thrikkakara.
