‘Congress CM should have spent at least a day in jail’: Party leader Ajay Tharayil joins debate on the top post

Senior Congress leader Ajay Tharayil has also entered into the public debate taking place in Kerala over the Chief Ministerial post.

Ajith Tharayil, in a Facebook post titled “The Congress Chief Minister of My Dreams” on Thursday, outlined specific criteria the future Congress chief minister he believes should meet, emphasizing a background in grassroots struggle and activism.

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According to him, a truly deserving CM should have a history of active participation in student and youth movements. No name was specifically mentioned for the post of Chief Minister in the post.

His specific requirements include that the Congress CM should have spent at least a day in jail as part of political struggle. The leader must have been hit by water from a water cannon at least once during a protest. “The leader must be a person who has come through youth struggles. He must have faced police harassment and oppression during the protests. He must have spent at least one day in jail, and he must have had at least one drop of water from a water cannon fall on his clothes during the protests,” Tharayil wrote in his post.

The Chief Minister of his dreams should show respect to grassroots-level party workers and maintain consistent political stances and should speak to the hearts of the people rather than just being a “voice on social media”. “He should not be a voice on social media, but one who speaks to the hearts of the people. He should be someone who treats the grassroots workers with respect. He should be consistent in his stances. My dream is to have such a Congress Chief Minister,” Tharayil wrote on Facebook.

Though no name was specifically mentioned for the post of Chief Minister in the post, Tharayil is considered a leader on the side of K C Venugopal.

Discussions about who would become the Chief Minister were active in the Congress from the day after the voting. The CM discussions were initiated by the Ernakulam district Congress President Muhammed Shias, a confidant of Opposition Leader VD. Satheesan. Shias’s remark that a Chief Minister should be from Ernakulam raised suspicions among other factions in Congress.

Following this,former KPCC President K Sudhakaran MP has openly stated that he wants Ramesh Chennithala to become the Chief Minister, if the UDF comes to power. Earlier, senior Congress leader P J Kurien also publicly stated that Ramesh Chennithala will become the Chief Minister, if the UDF gets the majority in the Assembly.

Meanwhile, taking a ‘U-turn’ on his earlier stance, K Sudhakaran later publicly backed AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal for the Kerala Chief Minister’s post.

As public discussions over the post of Chief Minister in the Congress went beyond the limits, the high command had issued orders banning such discussions.