Unrest seems to be gripping the Kerala Congress(M) further over the Idukki Lok Sabha seat issue, with former MP Francis George on Monday supporting the stance of party general secretary Antony Raju on friendly contest in the constituency.
According to political observers, this is enough to prove that the erstwhile Joseph faction is not giving much importance to party chief K M Mani’s stance. With the Lok Sabha polls nearing, the members are coming out with statements causing embarrassment to the party leadership.
Apparently vouching the stance of Antony Raju, former MP Francis George told ‘Express’ that ‘a section of media had misinterpreted the statement of Antony Raju who had only said that the situation is favourable for a friendly contest and the people are in favour of it. Raju never threatened that the party will field a candidate if it was denied a ticket,’’ he said.
However, Francis George said that there would not be any divisive movement in the party that would harm the UDF. On P C George’s remarks that Francis had no right to seek the seat as he was thrashed by P T Thomas by a margin of 75,000 votes, Francis said that he did not give much importance to the remarks.
P C George had, however, suggested that P T Thomas should contest from another constituency predicting that he would not fare well in the constituency. George had favoured P C Chacko to contest from Idukki and P T Thomas from Thrissur. George had also said that the Idukki Bishop had lost his individuality by backing Francis George.