Brewing unrest: KPCC executive meet on June 8

THIRUVANATHAPURAM: The KPCC executive will be meeting on June 8 as severe unrest is brewing within the Congress over the selection of Ministers. With more and more leaders coming out in the open targeting both KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, the party leadership has been compelled to convene the meeting to put an end to the controversies.Sources said that strict warning is likely to be issued by the KPCC president to all party leaders for speaking in public platforms against any leader of the party. "The leaders who speak in public platforms should not forget to maintain organisational discipline,'' said Ramesh Chennithala.The executive committee will be convened to give a platform to all the leaders to air their grievances and opinions on the recent controversies concerning the selection of Ministers and also on the issues concerning the candidate selection.Senior leaders like V M Sudheeran had already stressed the need for convening the KPCC executive committee meeting to discuss the party's performance in the Assembly elections. With more controversies emerging after the formation of the UDF Government, the demand for convening the executive committee has gained momentum.After the dismal performance of the party in the Assembly election, the Cabinet formation had also resulted in the party leadership coming under severe criticism. The omission of V D Sateesan from the Cabinet was the main reason behind the controversies as several leaders came out in the open to criticise the party leadership for the exclusion of the best performer of the party in the previous Assembly.T N Prathapan who openly criticised the KPCC president for the dismal show of the party in the elections, was rebuffed by several Youth Congress leaders such as M Lijju and K P Anil Kumar. With Thrissur District Congress Committee president V Balram too coming out in open against T N Prathapan, the issue is fast going out of control within the party. K Muraleedharan is also unhappy with the way the party has handled the Cabinet formation and he has indirectly expressed his dissatisfaction on this.Apart from this several of the decisions taken by the Ministers individually without discussing either in the party forum or in the UDF has also invited criticism within the party.The decision of Health Minister Adoor Prakash to bring back the private practice without having a serious discussion and the statement made by the Education Minister that more privatisation is required in the education sector, have all invited severe criticism.