THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan, MP, has put KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran in a fix by announcing that he will not campaign for UDF candidates in the local body elections in his Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency. He said so after Mullappally decided to give the “Hand” symbol to a rebel Congress candidate in his constituency.
Muraleedharan and Mullappally, who do not see eye to eye for the last several months, told TNIE that this has happened due to lack of consultations with the senior leaders. Over the last several months, Muraleedharan had been peeved with the KPCC leadership for not taking him and other senior Congress leaders into confidence.
The latest incident happened on Tuesday where initially it was agreed to field an RMP candidate with the support of the Congress in Kallamala division in Vadakara. But it was brought to the notice of Muraleedharan that a rebel Congress candidate has been given the symbol following the directive of Mullappally. “How can Mullappally claim that he wishes to cast his vote to a Congress candidate. I can vouch that such unfortunate incidents are happening because of lack of deliberations among the Congress leaders,” a Muraleedharan told TNIE. Meanwhile, Mullappally told reporters in Kollam that it was the party which gave the candidate the party symbol.