THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Following dispute among Congress leaders on Pala MLA Mani C Kappan joining the UDF as an ally, the 10- member AICC-appointed Election Management and Strategic Committee’s second sitting decided to pass the buck to the next UDF meeting.AICC organising general secretary K C Venugopal maintained that K Sudhakaran MP’s frequent comments on ‘toddy tapper’ should be immediately stopped lest it affects the prospects of the UDF in the Assembly elections.
Ever since Kappan joined the UDF camp, KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran had been demanding that he should be joining the Congress. It should be recalled that Kappan has been awaiting the central leadership’s permission to form Kerala NCP. Mullappally’s view is that Kappan should join the Congress as they feel that NCP being an ally of the UPA at the Centre and when it comes to the state, it is with the LDF camp, will not benefit the party.
Kodikunnil Suresh MP supported Mullappally’s view. But Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala maintained that the Congress should not be firm in demanding that Kappan should join the party. He opined that focus should be on creating as much division within the LDF as possible. Chennithala shared his apprehension that even if Kappan joins the Congress it is not necessary that his loyalists will follow him.
“The Kappan issue has been referred to the next UDF meeting. There is no difference of opinion about Kappan’s entry into UDF,” said Oommen Chandy, chairman, Election Management Committee.Venugopal maintained that Sudhakaran’s ‘casteist’ remarks are getting out of hand after the initial ‘toddy tapper’s son’ comment against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Sudhakaran had come up with yet another vitriolic comment against the CM’s father as a tit for tat comment against Mullappally’s father the other day. It should be recalled that Pinarayi had earlier cast aspersions against Mullappally’s freedom fighter father a few months ago which led Sudhakaran to take cudgels against him. Meanwhile, the EM&SC meeting has assigned all Congress MPs as ‘frontier warriors’ with their respective constituencies to gear up for the Assembly elections.
While KPCC vice-president P C Vishnunath and Anil Antony have been entrusted with the social media campaign committee, KPCC working president K V Thomas and vice-president V D Satheesan, MLA, have been assigned to take care of the media campaign committee.Chennithala’s “Aishwarya Kerala Yatra” will conclude at Parasala constituency in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday evening. However, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi MP will address the final rally of the yatra at Shankumugham on Tuesday evening. Rahul is also expected to attend the meeting of the 10-member EM&SC being held at Indira Bhavan before he leaves on Wednesday.