Kerala Congress (M) continued its clamour for the Idukki Lok Sabha seat,in addition to its sitting seat of Kottayam, on Tuesday also. Bilateral talks held twice here on Tuesday with the Congress leadership got stuck as expected,as the latter remained gentle but firm that the seat cannot be handed over.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, KPCC president V M Sudheeran, KC(M) supremo and Finance Minister K M Mani, Water Resources Minister P J Joseph and KC(M) deputy chairman C F Thomas were closeted after the UDF high power committee meet in the KPCC headquarters. As the swearing in of Governor Sheila Dikshit was slated for noon in the Raj Bhavan, the talks continued after a break but again in vain.
The Congress leadership took a position that parting away with the Kollam seat for the RSP this time was an exception,forced by sudden political developments and attendant wisdom to benefit the UDF as a whole. KC(M) was raising the demand for a second seat on the premise that it had nine MLAs. The IUML, with 20 MLAs,also has two Lok Sabha seats allotted for it. As Chandy and Sudheeran had left for New Delhi and will be away for the next two days,any discussions or major breakthrough to the satisfaction of the Kerala Congress needn’t be expected. “We understand that the Congress has a difficulty to allot its sitting seat for us. But Idukki is one of our strongholds. We need one more seat.It is for the Congress to take a decision,” Mani told Express.