3 Congress workers suspended for allegedly vandalising shop in Kollam

Kollam: The Congress on Friday suspended three of its workers for allegedly vandalising a shop after its owner Anaz's refused to donate more money towards Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kerala. 

The three suspended workers are Vilakkudy west constituency president Salim Zainuddin, Youth Congress state secretary H Aneesh Khan and District Congress Committee member Kunnikode Shahjahan.

Anaz had already paid Congress Rs 500. However, this failed to appease the three. They insisted on Rs 2,000.

When Anaz refused, they scattered the vegetables from the shop on the road.

The footage of the attack made rounds on social media enraging many.

Congress was quick to react. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president K Sudhakaran, in his tweet, labelled the incident as "unacceptable" and said the three were suspended with immediate effect.

"They do not represent our ideology and such behaviour is inexcusable," Sudhakaran said.

He also added that, unlike other parties which get corporate donations, Congress "crowdfunds small donations voluntarily".

"The politics of Congress is of getting together. Bharat Jodo Yatra is to unite the country," Sudhakaran said.

However, he refrained from admitting that his party workers had vandalised the shop. Instead, he wrote, "Congress workers should have shown the maturity to avoid such bad situations even though it is obvious that it was the shopowner himself who destroyed the vegetables."

The party is investigating the matter.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra, which entered Kerala on September 10 evening, would traverse through the state covering 450 km, touching seven districts for 19 days before entering Karnataka on October 1. It is devised as a way to revitalise the party after its string of debacles and leadership crises these past years.