Vijayan and Jijesh are said to be the victims of the Congress-controlled Cooperative Bank job scam involving party MLA I C Balakrishnan. Vijayan, who was also the former SulthanBathery panchayat president, and son Jijesh, a former SulthanBathery Co-operative Bank employee, were found in a critical condition on December 24, allegedly after consuming poison.

They were admitted to the Government Medical College in Kozhikode. Reports have it that Vijayan had accepted money from those aspiring for a job in the SulthanBathery Co-operative Bank on the directions of Balakrishnan. The demand for invoking abetment of suicide charges against Balakrishnan has since gathered momentum with allegations that the Wayanad district leadership of the Congress had carried out a scam similar to the one in the Pulpally Co-operative Bank.

On its part, the CPI(M) Wayanad district leaders said complaints about the recruitment issues in the bank had come up earlier but job aspirants were scared of speaking out openly in view of threats. Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan has, however, welcomed the demand for a police enquiry, saying that the party does not have to protect anyone, nor was there any wrongdoing.

MLA Balakrishnan said he would face the allegations legally. The acute discomfiture of the party has come at a time when the ugly head of groupism has reared once again with redoubled vigour. The tussle between Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran and the leader of the opposition V D Satheesan has come out in the open. The party is vertically divided over the leadership of the Congress in Kerala.

Senior leaders like K. Muralidharan and Ramesh Chennithala have extended their support to Sudhakaran whose removal is being sought by the rival group led by Satheesan. There is no need to replace Sudhakaran, they have said, thwarting Satheesan camp’s one-point agenda: Remove Sudhakaran.

Satheesan thinks his position in the party has gotten following the Congress' Lok Sabha election victory. Sudhakaran's supporters are in no mood to oblige. As if all this was not enough, Satheesan suffered a setback with the Nair Service Society (NSS), the powerful organisation of the Nair community, openly supporting senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala.

NSS chief G. Sukumaran Nair has invited Chennithala to inaugurate the 148th MannamJayanti celebrations. MannathPadmanabhan is the founder of NSS. This is a clear snub to Satheesan who is not in the good books of the NSS boss. Satheesan suffered a second setback when the chief of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP), Yogam, the powerful organisation of the Ezhava community, VellappallyNatesan also backed Chennithala.

Vellappally does not see eye to eye with Satheesan, whom he accused of being the personification of arrogance. Natesan is on record that Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and former home minister of Kerala Ramesh Chennithala was the best candidate for the post of Chief Minister if the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) wins the assembly elections in 2026.

Meanwhile, Chandy Oommen, MLA from Puthuppally, and son of former chief minister Oommen Chandy, accused the leadership of sidelining him during the Palakkad assembly by-election. The party had assigned him only a day in the constituency. Chandy Oommen does not belong to any faction and has scrupulously avoided assuming the leadership mantle of his late father’s A team.

Significantly, Cherian Philip, a senior Congress leader has urged the party leadership not to ignore or sideline Chandy Oommen. That will not be in the long-term interests of the party. Incidentally, Chandy Oommen has voiced his opposition to replacing KPCC chief Sudhakaran and other top leaders with younger leadership. (IPA Service)