Chirayinkeezhu fracas: Ramya Haridas, district panchayat member Sajith Muttappalam let off with warning
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The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee has warned Chirayinkeezhu MLA Ramya Haridas and district panchayat member Sajith Muttappalam against any recurrence of the public confrontation between the two leaders which had resulted in an open scuffle at Chirayinkeezhu a few weeks ago.
KPCC president Sunny Joseph has asked both leaders to work together and withdraw the cases filed against each other. The KPCC also instructed Ms. Haridas not to appoint Palayam Pradeep to her staff, whose role in the dispute had been one of the major points of contention between her and the local Congress leaders at Chirayinkeezhu.
The KPCC took the decision on the basis of the inquiry report given by senior Congress leader M.M. Hassan, who was asked by the party to look into the September 5 confrontation at the house of S. Sajad, a local Congress functionary.
The KPCC opted for a negotiated settlement to the dispute and decided against disciplinary action against Ms. Haridas and Mr. Sajith, while directing them to work together with the local party organisation and refrain from making further public statements about the dispute.
The KPCC had earlier suspended Mr. Pradeep and Mr. Sajad from the party’s primary membership in connection with the Chirayinkeezhu episode.
It was a dispute raised by local Congress leaders over the presence of Mr. Pradeep at a block panchayat committee meeting at Chirayinkeezhu that ended in the public scuffle.
Ms. Haridas alleged that she was threatened and physically assaulted by local Congress leaders, including Mr. Sajith. Mr. Sajith and Mr. Sajad, on the other hand, alleged that Ms. Haridas and her associates had confronted them and escalated the issue. Both sides had filed police complaints against each other.
The controversy had taken another dimension when after the incident, Ms. Haridas sought to appoint Mr. Pradeep to her personal staff, which generated much criticism from within the party.
The KPCC, meanwhile, also appointed a new mediation committee comprising Palode Ravi, M. Vincent, Neyyattinkara Sanal and K.S. Sabarinadhan to bring the two factions together and facilitate a settlement so that the local dispute does not escalate into an organisational crisis.
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