THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Slowly coming to terms with the big blow handed out by the Kerala Congress(M), the Congress leadership began to fight back and hold ground.
Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who had remained steadfast in supporting KC(M) supremo K M Mani even risking the stakes of the UDF Government when the latter was bogged down in the bar scam, described the volte face as political deceit.
“Even when the Kerala Congress had left the UDF fold, the Congress had shown the courtesy to honour Mani. Through the current decision, Mani has closed the doors for a re-entry to the UDF,’’ Chandy said.
KPCC president M M Hassan said the issue involved is not the departure of the Kerala Congress from the UDF. ‘’By pulling out from a political understanding reached for the Kottayam district panchayat president elections, K M Mani has cheated us,’’ he said.
‘’Jose K Mani is behind all the developments,’’ he said. According to K C Joseph, Congress parliamentary party deputy leader, K M Mani displayed political indecency by violating a political understanding between the UDF and the KC(M) in and outside the Assembly.
Congress parliamentary party secretary P T Thomas suspected Mani’s search for shades of Red was part of a deal with the CPM and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to ensure he comes out of the bar case unscathed. He asked the CPM leadership to make clear where the ‘note counting machine’ in K M Mani’s residence has gone.
K M Mani’s arch rival P C George asked whether the CPM had extended support in the elections after accepting money counted in the same machine. ‘’Mani’s true colours are out in the open. Mani is desperate to engineer another split in the Kerala Congress by setting ground for an alliance with the CPM for the sake of political prospects for his son Jose K Mani,’’ George said.