George writes to Chandy attacking Ganesh
Giving a new twist to the spat between Forest Minister K B Ganesh Kumar and government Chief Whip P C George, the latter has shot off a letter to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy containing allegations against the Minister and which even cast aspersions on his character.
George charged that Ganesh Kumar turned against him the moment he came to know about the constitution of a UDF sub-committee on Nelliampathy.
“I have living proof against the Minister on his many actions and his bad character. I’m holding the reason for his animosity against me, since mentioning it in the letter would be a humiliation to the Minister in the event of leakage of this letter. I shall present all proof in the next UDF meeting,” George said.
“Ganesh Kumar is one who had spoken foul against his own father and maintains a halo of a decent man,” he said. “I had only stated that the lease period of farmers having small holdings within the 278-acre Cherunelli estate has not ended and hence, the take over is improper. Copies of the same were given to you and the Forest Minister also, apart from the UDF, with my covering letter,” George states.
Copies of the letter have also been sent to UDF convenor P P Thankachan and leaders of coalition parties in the UDF. The missive is viewed as a build up for an all-out offensive by George against the Minister in the UDF meet slated for July 17.
The Minister had submitted a written complaint against George to the Chief Minister.
Ganesh responded to the letter of George by asking how the latter could eat his own words describing him as an excellent minister just four months ago.
He also said that George was like his brother but as a Minister, he could go only by the government’s policies.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan came to the rescue of Ganesh Kumar and observed that attempts to ‘isolate’ the Minister were not correct. “It seems that there is lot of friction over the Forest Minister’s tough stance to protect forest land,’’ he said.
It was just a few months back that both Ganesh and George pumped innuendos and abusively tinged
comments against the Opposition Leader at a meeting held in Pathanapuram, at the height of the controversy over the attack against the school teacher at Valakom.
The Opposition had been boycotting Ganesh Kumar after it, and not even a single question was put to the Minister in the Assembly by the LDF members till last week.
The boycott was called off and the recent developments had brought a thaw in the relations between the Minister and the Opposition, but only at the cost of peace in the UDF.