Kozhikode: The two-day 'Navsankalp Chintan Shivir' organised by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) began here on Saturday.

Senior Congress leaders V M Sudheeran and Mullappally Ramachandran stayed away from the event, which was inaugurated by AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal.

The event, similar to the recent national-level session held at Udaipur in Rajasthan, is organised to prepare the party for the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.

KPCC president K Sudhakaran, however, said that the leaders have informed they won't be participating in the event. 

Sudhakaran said that things like this are natural in the Congress and so it doesn't matter.  The decision of the leadership is to go ahead by taking measures to strengthen the party, he added. 

There were news reports suggesting that the leaders were not attending the event owing to differences with the state Congress chief.

"We have done everything. No comments," Sudhakaran told the media when asked about the absence of the senior leaders.

However, former leader of opposition and senior leader Ramesh Chennithala said he was not aware of the incident.

In the event, the leaders called for opposing the "BJP government's fascist rule" at the Centre and the "dictatorial rule of the Left government in Kerala".

Venugopal alleged that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has now become the "election department" of the BJP.

Apart from Sudhakaran and Chennithala, senior Congress leader Tariq Anwar, Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan and former chief minister Oommen Chandy are also taking part in the event.

Around 200 delegates including KPCC members, district committee presidents and others are participating in the meeting. PTI