Flouting Congress high command directive to party leaders not to make any public statement on the participation of party leaders in the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22, former KPCC president VM Sudheeran said on Sunday that the party should have rejected the invitation the ceremony at the moment it was received.

Speaking to media persons here, Sudheeran said, “Now, without any delay, the Congress should reject the invitation to the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple. If anybody in the Congress participates in the ceremony, it is equal to falling into the trap of PM Modi. If the invitation is not rejected, it will weaken the Congress and other secular parties.”

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Sudheeran further said he could not understand the meaning of the party leaders’ statement that a decision on participation in the ceremony would be taken in due course after discussions.

Recalling that the Congress was defeated in all the states where the party had adopted soft Hindutva, he said, “BJP’s hard Hindutva cannot be dealt with soft Hindutva. Those who are having Hindutva feeling would go with hard Hindutva, not with soft Hindutva.”

On the affairs of the party in the state, Sudheeran said factionalism has intensified in the party’s Kerala unit and the current leadership, including KPCC chief K Sudhakaran and Opposition Leader V D Satheesan, has failed to deliver. Earlier, there were only two groups in the party. There are now five factions. “If in the past it was enough to protect the interest of two groups, now is a situation where the interest of five groups has to be protected,” he added.

Had there been no factional feud, Congress could have achieved an impressive win in the previous Assembly polls, he contended. “Had the candidates been decided through consultations, the outcome of the last assembly elections would have been different,” Sudheeran said.

The Congress state executive meeting on Saturday witnessed a heated exchange between Deepa Dasmunshi, the newly-appointed AICC general secretary in charge of the state, and V M Sudheeran, who maintained that a soft Hindutva stand won’t be to the party’s advantage.

Deepa Das Munshi was reportedly enraged when Sudheeran urged the Central leadership to take a tough stance on Hindutva. She maintained that it’s the prerogative of the AICC to take a call on whether the party should attend the consecration of the Ram temple at Ayodhya on January 22.

Congress Working Committee member Shashi Tharoor said the party has neither a soft nor a hard stand against Hindutva.