The much-awaited round of talks between Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala on the issue of induction of the latter into the Cabinet also didn’t bear fruit as it ended on expected lines, with the former expressing his constraints to allot the plum Home and Vigilance portfolio and the latter refusing to pick up any other choice. ‘’I have apprised the high command about the details of the discussions,’’ Chandy told waiting mediapersons at the end of the half-an-hour-long talks.
When quizzed by mediapersons whether Ramesh had agreed to step into his Cabinet, Chandy maintained silence while also wearing a smile. Chandy is understood to have opined that the views of Ramesh would also be conveyed to the party high command. Soon after the talks, many ‘I’ group votaries, including Health Minister V S Sivakumar reached Indira Bhavan. The Minister held a closed-door meeting with Ramesh, giving rise to speculations. The third round of talks between Chandy and Ramesh over the past two weeks was held against the backdrop of consultations the Chief Minister had with the Congress high command last Monday. Backroom maneuverings preceded the crucial meet, though there were no signs of an end to the deadlock. UDF convenor P P Thankachan met Ramesh at the KPCC office in the morning but returned empty handed as Ramesh and followers refused to budge from their position. Ramesh had reportedly asked Thankachan whether there was any point in holding talks with the Chief Minister if there was no solid undertaking on the basis of a conviction on the demands raised by the ‘I’ group.
“A solution could be arrived at within two days,’’ Thankachan, however, hoped. In the afternoon, Benny Behanan MLA, acting as an emissary of Chandy, met Ramesh. Benny had created the turf for talks between Chandy and Ramesh. ‘’I had apprised the high command about the latest situation in Congress politics in the state. The subsequent matters will be discussed here. We will meet any time,’’ Chandy had told mediapersons during the a post-Cabinet media briefing earlier in the day, referring to the talks with Ramesh, even as no formal word was given directly on holding talks.
“We are moving on the same path,” Chandy claimed, when asked about the stand of Ramesh that both of them were poles apart now, in the aftermath of the long-drawn talks without any solution in sight. Ramesh and supporters are remaining adamant that nothing less than the Home and Vigilance portfolio was acceptable, especially after the deputy CM’s post was ticked off, at the end of Chandy’s talks with AICC president Sonia Gandhi. As a matter of prestige, the general view in the ‘I’ camp is that there should be no more surrender in front of the ‘A’ group and Ramesh should not hold any more talks on ministership with Chandy. The near sweep of the ‘A’ faction in the Youth Congress polls have only added wounds for rival camp, while emerging as belligerent lot.
