Temporary truce to factional feud

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A temporary truce in the factional feud in the state unit of the Congress is in the offing.  Secret parleys  held among Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala and UDF convenor P P Thankachan at Kottayam on Wednesday night worked out a patch-up formula, thereby avoiding further embarrassment to the precariously-placed state government. The ‘Express’ was the first to dig out the brewing discontent among  the leaders and the rank and file of the Congress over the police issue. Despatching Kannur SP Anoop Kuruvilla John on leave for training the other day was a gesture to assuage the feelings of the ‘I’ group. K Sudhakaran MP had reportedly made it clear that he will not settle for anything less than shunting out Kannur SP whom he had held squarely responsible for ‘humiliating’ him.Under the patch-up formula, a congenial atmosphere will be created through announcement of heads and members of various boards and corporations, allotted to the party.The implementation of the Vakkom panel recommendations by at least seeking an explanation from those who have been mentioned for acts of indiscipline during the last Assembly polls, is also mooted. Also, new KPCC office-bearers based on the one- man one-post principle will be announced in a few days’ time. Incidentally, the truce had been worked out with the KPCC office-bearers’ meeting slated to be held here for Friday.It is understood that the chief minister had given an undertaking that all genuine complaints of the ‘broad I’ group against the ‘A’ faction will be looked into. ‘’It is something related to restraint and control from all sides, without precipitating issues,’’  Chennithala told Express.However,  Chandy played down the crisis in the party before  mediapersons during a cabinet briefing on Thursday. ‘’You will not get much on Congress,’’ he said.Putting on a brave front, he also said that the Police Association cannot have a say on transfers and postings in the force.Despite the camaraderie and temporary patch-up at the top level, it remains to be seen how it is going to percolate down to the grassroots level of the Congress, with mutual suspicion and distrust between the ‘A’ and ‘I’ groups mounting.