In Priyanka's Wayanad, Cong Leaders Pay for Factional Feud With Their Lives

5 local leaders died by suicide in a decade in dist, with latest casualty being Jose Nalladam

- LAKSHMI ATHIRA @kalpetta

WAYANAD, hailed as a Congress fortress and the political turf of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, is fast turning into a graveyard for party leaders. In the past decade, five local leaders here have died by suicide -- each case exposing a pattern of betrayal, humiliation, and factional bloodletting within the party.

The latest casualty is Jose Nalladam, whose death has once again ripped open the festering wounds of Wayanad Congress politics. Factional rivalries that had already turned violent escalated further after DCC president N D Appachan was assaulted by party workers during a development seminar in Mullankolli in July.

One of the rebels, Thankachan, was later arrested in a liquor-and-explosives case. But after spending 16 days in jail, Thankachan alleged that it was a conspiracy engineered by the Appachan faction, led by Jose.