Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Sunny Joseph on Friday signalled that the party would spare the rod and strike a middle ground in the late-night fracas involving Congress legislator Remya Haridas and two other party workers at a house in Chirayinkeezhu last week.

Mr Joseph told reporters in Kochi that he had received the report of the inquiry commission constituted to investigate the scuffle, which went viral and caused significant reputational damage to the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government. “Congress workers should conduct themselves thoughtfully. Reconciliation is the KPCC’s watchword. The party will solve all outstanding differences amicably,” he said.

Former KPCC president M.M. Hassan, who headed the commission, was not immediately available for comment.

However, KPCC office-bearers privy to the inquiry said the commission had faulted the parties involved in the conflict, which provided sensational grist to Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] social media handles to troll the Congress and the government and also diverted media attention from the UDF government’s flagship ‘Re-Imagining Kerala’ retreat at the Indian Institute of Management-Kozhikode (IIM-K).

They said the commission had reportedly recommended that party legislators uphold the responsibilities and etiquette that come with parliamentary privilege. KPCC sources said the commission also cautioned party workers against settling internal disputes in person or in public.

Appropriate party forum

Instead, they said, the commission emphasised that workers air their grievances at the appropriate party forum, primarily the District Congress Committee, rather than acting on their own, individually or in groups, lest such incidents undermine party unity and distort the KPCC’s political and organisational messaging.

A Congress insider said the commission also highlighted the need for the KPCC to put workers who breach party discipline on strict notice to dissuade the rank-and-file from construing any hesitancy from the leadership as an open charter for public feuding, while allowing sufficient latitude for expressing contrition and correcting course.

They noted that Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan had recently accepted the apology of a Thiruvananthapuram District Congress Committee (DCC) member, Anil Kumar, aka Chenthi Anil, whom the KPCC had expelled for blocking his motorcade.

Earlier, the KPCC had reinstated former KPCC secretary P. Balakrishnan and other party workers who were suspended for “sending a wrong signal” to the rank-and-file by participating in the wedding of a Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] leader implicated in the murder of Congress workers Kripesh and Sarath Lal at Periye in Kasargode in 2019.

Notably, the KPCC also reportedly let off the DCC general secretary, Thiruvananthapuram, A. Prijin Babu, with a warning after the party issued him a show-cause notice for creating an impression of dissension in the top leadership over the Chief Minister post by paying for newspaper advertorials vouching for Ramesh Chennithala for the top post in the wake of the UDF’s victory.

In July, the KPCC had warned party spokespersons against thrashing out intra-party disputes on television talk shows. However, it stopped short of taking any disciplinary action.

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Sunny Joseph has admitted that organisational decorum was not followed during an interaction between Chirayinkeezhu MLA Ramya Haridas and local party workers, which escalated into a scuffle. Mr. Joseph said a three-member committee had been appointed to investigate the matter and submit a report.

The committee, headed by former KPCC president M.M. Hassan, will look into the incident and submit a report at the earliest, said Congress sources. KPCC general secretary Ramani P. Nair, who was in charge of the constituency’s election, and Neyyattinkara Sanal are the other members of the panel. Mr. Joseph also assured that strong action will be taken against those responsible after the investigation.

The Congress leadership’s move is aimed at resolving the issue within the party and avoiding legal action and arrest. It is reported that the committee has instructed both groups to appear in person on Sunday as part of the investigation.

Congress legislator representing the Chirayankeezhu constituency in Thiruvananthapuram district, Ramya Haridas, was hospitalised late on Friday (September 4, 2026) following an altercation at the house of a party worker.

According to the Chirayankeezhu police, the fracas occurred at the house of a local Congress worker. They said Ms. Haridas and her private secretary, Palayam Pradeep had visited the party worker’s house around 11 p.m.

The police said they sat in the living room with the workerto settle a dispute that had broken out between Mr.Pradeep and the Congress workers during a project implementation meeting at the local bloc panchayat.

Local Congress workers had protested Mr. Pradeep giving instructions to the local body’s civic contractors and questioned his authority.

The police said Ms. Haridas and Mr. Pradeep’s purported raproachment attempt seemingly backfired, resulting in the violence inside the party workers’ living room. Video images of Ms. Haridas grappling with a Congress worker and demanding that he stop gripping her hand went viral on social media. The video also showed toppled chairs and the Congress worker’s living room in shambles.

According to police, Sub-Inspector N. Ansar and a team of officers were at the taluk hospital to record the legislator’s statement. The police said Ms. Haridas has accused her party compatriot of assaulting her.

Meanwhile, a district panchayat member has taken to social media, accusing Ms. Haridas and Mr. Pradeep of trespassing into the local Congress worker’s house late at night and assaulting him. He has demanded that the police book Ms. Haridas and her aide on charges of house trespass with criminal intent, destruction of property and assault.

The police said they would record the statements of both parties and register an FIR. An official said the police would also inform the Speaker’s office about the incident.