NEW DELHI: A serious rebellion brewing in the Kerala Congress threatens to damage the party's image. A day after Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) secretary PS Prasanth was expelled from the party, he has levelled serious allegations against Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal.
The Congress took action against Prasanth for writing a letter to party leader Rahul Gandhi in which the former blamed Venugopal for the party’s poor show not just in Kerala but also in other states. He even called Venugopal as an “agent of the BJP”.
Prasanth blamed Venugopal’s “organisational skills” for the poor performance of the Congress in the states and also at the national level.
These allegations could not have hurt Venugopal and the Congress any more.
Being the All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in-charge of organisation, Venugopal is holding the most important post after party’s interim party president Sonia Gandhi.
As far as Venugopal’s importance in the party is concerned, it is next to Sonia, her son Rahul Gandhi and her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who is also Congress’s general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh.
Secondly, Venugopal comes from Kerala. Therefore, a rebellion against him in his home state has a bearing at the national level.
The third and perhaps one of the most important reasons why this rebellion has a direct bearing on the Congress is that Rahul Gandhi is a Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad in Kerala.
Rahul had contested from two seats - Wayanad and his traditional constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh - in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. While he won from Wayanad, he suffered humiliation by losing Amethi to Union women and child development minister Smriti Irani.
The fourth significant reason for the impact on the Congress is that Rahul is having a hands-on approach towards Wayanad and Kerala. He has been regularly visiting Wayanad and different parts of the southern state ever since he started representing this constituency in the Lok Sabha.
The fifth reason is that Prasanth is not a simple Congress worker. He was at the senior and responsible post of the KPCC secretary before he was expelled from the party.
The allegations which Prasanth has made are serious in nature.
In a frontal attack on the Congress organisation general secretary, Prasanth said, “The root cause of organisational problems in Kerala is KC Venugopal. AV Gopinath, former DCC president of Palakkad, has left the party because of it. Nobody was given any positions in Kerala who did not have a commitment to KC Venugopal personally.”
He accused Venugopal of lacking organisational skills. He said, "Be it Goa, Chattisgarh or Punjab, Congress is facing problems due to his lack of organisational skills. In Punjab, the newly-appointed Congress chief is working against the chief minister. Venugopal's job is not just to travel along with Rahul Gandhi in the car when he comes to Kerala, but to strengthen the party. This is why I wrote a letter to Rahul Gandhi pointing it out."
Claiming that he didn't criticise the Congress but an individual, Prasanth alleged that Venugopal works as "an agent of Bharatiya Janata Party".
He further said, "For 30 years I was working for Congress. I have not made any remarks against the Congress party."
Prasanth's letter to Gandhi read, "Since he (KC Venugopal) took the charge, we could witness the destruction of the party in states including Goa, Karnataka, MP, Rajasthan, Punjab, Chhattisgarh etc… Congress workers in Kerala are doubtful whether his actions to collapse the party are in accordance with the collusion he made with BJP."
He accused Venugopal of not having any social support within the party in Kerala and blamed him for being the “sole reason for the organisational issues in Kerala".
