Factionalism and Corruption Rock Congress as Local Body Elections Approach

Manjeswaram/Thrissur: Congress leaders keep smiling for the cameras and insisting all is well, but the party on the ground looks like it’s being held together with old cello tape and wishful thinking. Infighting is the daily special, corruption allegations are the side dish, and resignations arrive with the regularity of a bus timetable.

In Manjeswaram, Mandalam committee members staged what can only be described as a political street play. Furious that a key Congress stronghold was allegedly gifted to the Muslim League, they sealed the office, pocketed the key, dragged the furniture outside, and locked the place as if they were evicting themselves. Their complaint: three important seats have already been surrendered to the League, including ones Congress actually won in the Block Division last year. Local leaders protested; the DCC office responded with impressive commitment to silence. Now the protesters say more agitations are coming.

Thrissur’s Kunnamkulam Municipality is no less theatrical. Here, factional fights have upgraded themselves into straight corruption allegations. Mahila Congress Mandalam president Reshma Satheesh has accused the DCC of taking money to hand an ST -reserved seat to someone with fewer qualifications and more connections.

Reshma, who has held enough posts to fill a visiting card, says she was considered for the 21st Division seat before mysteriously being replaced after the alleged transaction. She took her complaint to DCC president Joseph Thazhath and to O Abdurahimankutty, who oversees Kunnamkulam. A formal complaint was also filed with the KPCC, which responded with its signature crisis-management style: complete, uninterrupted silence.

By Sunday, Reshma decided she’d played her part long enough. She walked into the DCC office, handed over her resignation, and walked out, the only quick, decisive action this party has seen in months.