A day after the Union Government issued an office memorandum (OM) addressing the concerns raised by Kerala on Kasturirangan report, the state capital witnessed a political drama with Water Resource Minister and Kerala Congress (M) leader P J Joseph skipping the Cabinet meeting in ‘’protest’’ against the non-issuance of a new draft notification by the Centre.
When Lok Sabha election schedule was being announced in New Delhi on Wednesday morning, the old Joseph faction in the KC(M), which is at loggerheads with the Congress on the Kasturirangan issue and Idukki seat, was holding a meeting. Later, yet another meeting was held at party general secretary Antony Raju’s house.
Mounting pressure on the Congress, Joseph told mediapersons that his absence from the Cabinet meeting was to mark ‘’protest’’ against the issuing of an office memorandum instead of a new draft notification.
‘’I did not attend the meet as a mark of protest. The assurance was that a draft notification will be issued and we are not at all satisfied with just an office memorandum. Now, it is said that they will soon issue a draft notification. Let us see,’’ said Joseph, to whom the Congress has sent feelers to soften his stand on the issue.
The Joseph group leaders are of the opinion that there was no point in continuing in the government as only an office memorandum was issued by the Centre without releasing a draft notification. The faction’s ire was also fuelled by the neglect it received for its demand for the Idukki seat.
Earlier, its leader Antony Raju had even warned of a ‘’friendly contest’’ with the Congress in the high range district, if their claim was not met. Opposition deputy leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had also given an open call to the KC(M) the other day to come out of the UDF and join the LDF fold over the ‘’betrayal’’ by the Centre on Kasturirangan report. It is learned that the Joseph group had also given an ultimatum to both the KC(M) and the Congress on the issue .
However, KC(M) chairman K M Mani, after meeting Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to convey the party’s displeasure on the issue, in a bid to douse the crisis, said that the party would wait for two more days for the issuance of the new draft notification.
‘’KC(M) had taken a strong stand on the issue as our’s is a farmers’ party. Just an office memorandum is not acceptable and a draft notification should be issued to address the concerns of the farmers. We will wait for two more days for it,’’ said Mani, who maintained that there is no rift in the KC(M) on the issue. A high-level meeting of the KC(M) will be held in Kottayam on Friday to discuss the issue.
Meanwhile, Government Chief Whip P C George, who had threatened to quit his post if a new notification was not issued, said that he handed a letter to Mani on Wednesday morning, expressing his wish to resign over the issue.
Chandy had said that the Centre, by way of office memorandum, had accepted all the recommendations made by Kerala and the farmers in the state need not worry at all.
‘Issue Draft Notification’
T’Puram: Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) president Cardinal Mar Baselios Cleemis has urged the Centre to issue a specific draft notification in two days exempting human settlements and agriculture land, including plantations, from the ambit of Ecologically Fragile Lands (EFL) specified in the Kasturirangan report. “The Catholic Church had faith in the assurance given by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on this matter. But the government would be held accountable for any delay in issuing the draft notification,” Cleemis told a press conference here.
George Backtracks on Resignation
T’Puram: Government Chief Whip P C George, who had been threatening to resign over the Kasturirangan report, backtracked on Wednesday stating that a decision on the resignation would be taken after the Kerala Congress (M) high-level meeting to be held on Thursday. “If I resign alone, I fear that it would be a disgrace to the party and other leaders. Now the party has decided to hold a high-level meeting. I decided to put my decision to quit on hold due to this,” he said and added that he gave a letter to party chairman K M Mani in this regard. George said that he had expressed his wish to resign in the letter and had demanded the chairman to call a high-level meeting. On the government’s statement that a notification incorporating the suggestions of Kerala would come out soon, he said,”I doubt about the notification. And if the notification comes, then we have no issue,” he said.