After the spat with Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Government Chief Whip and Kerala Congress (M) vice-chairman P C George has trained his guns on senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan MLA, who criticised George the other day by calling him an “unchained temple ox”.
Unleashing a verbal attack, George replied on Sunday that whatever benefits received from the government were not from the pocket of Muraleedharan’s family.
“Muraleedharan had turned against A K Antony in 2004. He has the history of forming a party against the Congress. When he did not gain any support for the new outfit, he came back to the party due to the leniency shown by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and KPCC chief Ramesh Chennithala,” George said.
George warned Muraleedharan that his remarks were just a beginning and if the latter continued to criticise him he would be forced to say more. “I was keeping quiet and Muraleedharan made me react. If he continues to criticise me, I will have to say more about him,,” George said.
Meanwhile, reacting to George’s comments, Muraleedharan said that he was not as cheap as George to react to each and everything he said and his culture didn’t allow him to give a reply.
“I am not a person who will speak anything on seeing a mike. As I said earlier, George is an unchained temple ox. He is an insult to the UDF and if not controlled than the Front will face a setback in the upcoming Parliament election,” Muraleedharan said.
It is not the first time George is attacking a Congress leader. His constant criticism of senior leaders from his own Front had invited wrath both from within his own party as well as the Congress. KC(M) chairman K M Mani recently had asked George to hold his tongue, urging him to show respect and avoid personal references, especially about leaders outside the party.