The decision of Idukki District Congress Committee (DCC) president C.P. Mathew to nominate Nikhil Paily, the prime accused in the murder of Students Federation of India (SFI) activist and BTech student Dheeraj Rajendran in 2022, to the committee has sparked outrage in the district. According to party leaders, Mr. Mathew nominated Mr. Paily without consulting other DCC members or the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC).

Many DCC members are now demanding that the KPCC remove Mr. Mathew from the president post. He had nominated Mr. Paily to the committee on Saturday, along with four others. Senior Congress leaders came to know about Mr. Paily’s inclusion only when the list was released.

“It is a black mark on the newly elected UDF government and MLAs in the district. The nomination was made without consulting other UDF leaders in the district. It was an uncalled-for move by the DCC president. His actions are causing massive damage to the party here, and we have demanded that the KPCC remove him from the post immediately. Recently, he had launched a verbal attack against Idukki MP Dean Kuriakose,” said a senior Congress leader.

“If the court had acquitted Mr. Paily, his nomination we could have accepted his nomination. But the case is still pending in court. The nomination will sully the Congress’s reputation in the district,” the leader added.

Mr. Mathew, meanwhile, defended his decision, clarifying that the court has not yet found Mr. Paily guilty and that the trial is yet to begin.

CPI(M) stand

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] district leadership has strongly objected to the nomination. CPI(M) Idukki district secretary C.V. Varghese said that Congress leaders need to question the logic behind this move. “The CPI(M) will pursue the murder case legally and politically. The nomination shows exactly what the Congress intends to offer the public,” Mr. Varghese said.

Dheeraj was stabbed to death at Government Engineering College, Painavu, Idukki, on January 10, 2022. He was killed and two other students, Thrissur native Abhijith T. Sunil and Kollam resident A.S. Amal, were injured in a clash related to the college union elections. In April 2022, the police submitted a 600-page chargesheet in the court, as per which KSU-Youth Congress activists were accused in the case, with Mr. Paily named as the prime accused.