KPCC president M.M. Hassan on Tuesday maintained that factionalism in the Congress was not the sole reason for the UDFdefeat in the recent Chengannur byelection.
Addressing a press conference here after the KPCC leadership meeting, convened to evaluate the Chengannur defeat, he said the LDF had unabashedly leveraged its administrative powers to influence caste and religious forces.
“We accept the defeat, which was unexpected. But this did not mean that the UDF base had been shaken,” he said.
He said a two-day session of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) and the KPCC leadership would be convened to discuss the plans to strengthen the party.
Mr. Hassan admitted that the PAC and Wednesday’s meetings had witnessed strong criticism against the decision on the Rajya Sabha seat.
All leaders supported the view that it was imperative to bring the Kerala Congress (M) back into the fold, but took strong exception to the manner in which it was handled.
The young legislators who had used the social media to criticise senior party leaders came in for strong criticism.
The KPCC proposed to formulate a code of conduct for using social networks.