THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The choice of Charles Dias as the Anglo-Indian nominee to the Lok Sabha from Kerala has come as a big surprise, at least to the top brass of the state Congress leadership.
Already there have been widespread complaints in the state Congress leadership that the party high command has taken the decision against the interest of the state unit. “The state leadership was not taken into confidence before selecting him as the nominee,” was how a senior Congress leader reacted to this.
KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala refuted all these allegations. “The AICC leadership took the decision after consulting the state leadership,” he told Express here.
But there were few in the state Congress leadership who agreed with him. All in the top brass begged to differ with the KPCC president.
Sources close to Opposition Leader Oommen Chandy told this paper that they came to “know” about the appointment only through the media.
“Three other names were doing the rounds and we are still clueless as to how this man got through,” said another senior leader.
It is interesting to note that even the senior Congress leaders came to know of the nomination of Dias very late. But now the state leadership has to accept this appointment as they cannot go against the decision of the high command.
“This is the second time the party high command has taken a decision without consulting the party leadership here. Earlier, the Central Government appointed four Keralites in the executive committee of the Central University which has been set up in Kasargod without consulting the state leaders,” said a leader.
Dias belongs to Kochi and was named one of the two Anglo-Indian nominees to the Lok Sabha on Sunday evening. Dias, 59, is a retired senior superintendent of the Kerala State Electricity Board.