TIL Desk/National/Thiruvananthapuram/ In Delhi if the Congress G-23 leaders are understood to have held the Gandhi family responsible for the debacle in the recent state polls, the villain in Kerala is none other than 58-year-old KC Venugopal, the closest aide of Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi.
Soon after the failure, posters cropped up near the party office at Kannur’s Sreekandapuram, which read “Save Congress-thanks to Venugopal for what happened in 5 states where Congress was wiped out”. Venugopal hails from Kannur which is also the home district of state party president K. Sudhakaran.
Ever since he was made the Congress general secretary in-charge of organisational affairs, the stock of Venugopal has been on the rise, leaving behind seasoned veterans and seniors in the party.The growth trajectory of the new Congress strongman began when in the 1990s, his proximity to the then powerful K. Karunakaran gave him the initial momentum.
His closeness with Rahul Gandhi helped him clinch nomination from Rajasthan to the Upper House and since then he has been ruling the roost, much to the dislike of veterans like Oommen Chandy, Ramesh Chennithala and also Sudhakaran.
