KOTTAYAM: A day after Kerala Congress(M) trumped the UDF candidate in the Kottayam district panchayat president election with CPM support, Congress on Thursday turned the tables on K M Mani. In a swift response, the Congress did not support the KC(M) candidate in the Mutholi grama panchayat election in Pala.
However, it did not make any impact on the eventual result. KC(M)’s Beena Baby won the election with seven votes in the 13-member council.
While two Congress members abstained from voting, BJP’s three members voted for their candidate N Mayadevi and the lone CPM independent member made the vote invalid. But the message from the Congress was loud and clear - it will not be a mute spectator to KC(M)’s leanings towards the Left.
At the same time, indicating KC(M) local level leaders were refusing to toe the official line, a Congress member was elected the vice-president of the Vazhappally grama panchayat in Changanassery with KC(M) support. Congress candidate Sheela Thomas won the election securing 12 votes with the support of four KC(M) members. CPM’s Thulasi got nine votes.
The developments in Vazhappally have also endorsed the views the KC(M) members were dissatisfied over party leadership’s move to tie-up with CPM in Kottayam without discussing it in party forums.
‘We no longer need Manis’
T’Puram: Once his staunchest supporter in troubled times, Oommen Chandy is leading the move to isolate KC(M) veteran K M Mani and his son Jose K Mani. “We no longer need K M Mani and Jose K Mani,’’ Chandy told Express