Rahul supports Sudhakaran, says Congress will not bow to intimidation

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran, MP, found unqualified support from the party’s high command even as his legal troubles in Kerala appeared to mount on Monday.

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran, MP, found unqualified support from the party’s high command even as his legal troubles in Kerala appeared to mount on Monday. Dogged by a Crime Branch probe into his alleged financial transactions with suspected fake antiquities dealer, Monson Mavunkal, Mr. Sudhakaran reached New Delhi along with Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan and met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

In New Delhi, Mr. Sudhakaran said that he was the target of an anti-corruption inquiry. The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau issued a notice seeking his wife’s bank records concerning the stalled purchase of an educational institution. He said the government revived a “baseless case with no merit” to sully Congress with an eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Immediately after the close-door meeting in New Delhi, Mr. Gandhi, in an emphatic message of solidarity, tweeted a picture of him holding hands with the two leaders from Kerala. “The Congress party doesn’t fear the politics of intimidation and vendetta”, Mr. Gandhi tweeted.

Mr. Gandhi’s tweet also seemed to be a message to Congress factions who have allegedly used the investigations against the two leaders and disgruntlement over new party appointments to cut the ground from under the feet of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) and Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leadership.

In particular, Mr. Gandhi’s endorsement of Mr. Sudhakaran was a stimulus for the embattled leader, who had offered to resign to insulate his party from political incrimination as its preparations for the Lok Sabha polls reached a high pitch. AICC general secretary Tariq Anwar, who was present at the meeting, ruled out any leadership change in Kerala.

Mr. Satheesan is also the target of a police inquiry into the alleged soliciting of private funding to build homes for 2018 flood-displaced in his Paravoor Assembly constituency.

In a related development, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the investigations against Mr. Sudhakaran were not politically motivated. The CPI(M) did not involve in the policy process. CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan said credible evidence, based on the information furnished by former aides and Congress workers, and not political spite, as alleged, had prompted the police enquiries against Mr. Satheesan and Mr. Sudhakaran.