Embattled Congress leader P. Ramakrishnan has resigned as Kannur District Congress Committee (DCC) president.
His resignation comes in the wake of the outrage caused in the party by his disclosure that his arch-rival in the party K. Sudhakaran, MP, had persuaded Communist Marxist Party (CMP) leader and former Minister M.V. Raghavan to visit Koothuparamba on November 25, 1994, in defiance of the advice of other Congress leaders and police officers in the face of protests by the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) against the Minister that day.
Mr. Ramakrishnan, who has been isolated in the party following his revelation on the backdrop of the Koothuparamba police firing in which five DYFI workers had been killed, faxed his resignation letter to Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Ramesh Chennithala on Saturday.
His resignation is seen as a foregone conclusion after his latest charge against Mr. Sudhakaran has attracted strong criticism from both his supporters and detractors in the party.
When contacted, he told The Hindu that he had faxed his resignation letter to the KPCC chief and also spoke to him over phone to thank Mr. Chennithala for the cooperation extended to him during his tenure as DCC chief.
Mr. Ramakrishnan, who had been served a show cause notice by the KPCC following his controversial disclosure, said he would send his response to the notice in time. ‘‘Let the party leadership decide the next course of action,'' he said.
Mr. Ramakrishnan, who was nominated as the DCC president acceptable to both the traditional factions — the ‘A' group and the ‘I' group — in the district, has been a thorn in the flesh of the supporters of Mr. Sudhakaran, largely drawn from the ‘I' faction, since he started turning his guns at the MP following the last Assembly election in which he was denied ticket for contesting from the Kannur constituency.
Though he has been seen as growingly allied with the ‘A' faction, no senior leader from the group has come to his rescue following his latest allegation against Mr. Sudhakaran.
The leaders here who are traditionally loath to endorse Mr. Sudhakaran's ‘style of functioning' privately say that though Mr. Ramakrishnan is justified in his airing of views that are critical of the MP, his latest statement indirectly linking Mr. Sudhakaran with the incidents at Koothuparamba is unpardonable because it has given the CPI(M) a stick to beat the party with. The party leaders in the district who have backed him in his fight against Mr. Sudhakaran chose to distance themselves from his controversial statement that enraged the party leadership, including Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
According to party insiders, Mr. Ramakrishnan's decision to quit followed Mr. Chandy's strong reaction against the former's remarks on the Koothuparamba incidents. The DCC president's attempt to tone down his remarks by saying that his words at the press conference on October 6 were distorted has failed to pay off in the face of the anger they triggered among supporters of Mr. Sudhakaran.
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