Rahul's rise & fall raises questions on Cong's political morality

Controversy deals a blow to UDF unity

- K S SREEJITH @T'Puram

AT 1 pm Thursday, some senior-most Congress leaders were closely watching the press meet of Rahul Mamkootathil, as he announced his decision to step down from the Youth Congress state president post after an actor and another woman accused him of indecent conduct.

Some leaders, traveling by road, stopped their vehicle on the roadside and watched each word Rahul spoke. And they were disappointed with his performance, as one leader told TNIE: "I think Rahul still believes he is the flamboyant leader of the party, and he does not even understand the gravity of his actions."

This gives the exact situation the state Congress and its leadership have landed now. Suddenly everyone is speaking about the after-effects of a new political culture that was hailed as a model just days ago. "The combination of aggression with arrogance and use of social media to unseat opponents at any cost forms the new Congressmen," a Political Affairs Committee member told TNIE.

According to senior leaders, after two consecutive defeats of UDF in the assembly polls, proponents of this theory got an upper hand in the organization. The unsettling of Ramesh Chennithala, the incidents that led to denial of Leader of Opposition post to him and the 'election' of V D Satheesan as parliamentary party leader though the latter did not enjoy a majority opened the door for this new style of politics. But it came with a heavy price.