As the political impasse over the issue of renewing 418 bar licences continues, KPCC president V M Sudheeran stuck to his guns and said that he had only presented the majority view of the party executive committee meet before the KPCC-government coordination committee meet.
“It is my responsibility. I was not imposing my personal views,” he maintained, in an attempt to counter the stand of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and many others against him who had participated in the unfruitful talks of the committee the other day.
Sudheeran toughened his stand with a no-compromise posture, while Chandy has taken a position to let the issue come up before the UDF meet on Tuesday and there is no need for convening another meet of the KPCC-government coordination committee.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala emerged as a mediator to reach an amicable settlement on the issue. Ramesh told Express that he is trying for a patchup between Chandy and Sudheeran. “I’m in touch with top officials to work out a solution wherein the interests of the government are also taken care of. There is a possibility of intervention of the courts,” he feared. Chandy was hopeful of a solution without much delay. It should be both practical and legally valid, he said, indicating that such a consensus is not forthcoming now.
An apparently wounded Sudheeran said that news reports on the deliberations of the committee were ‘misleading’ and the reports that all the participants in the committee had opposed him were “baseless”.
“I had never meant to take over the monopoly of the anti-liquor brand,” he said. “What I have put forward was based on the declared policy of the Congress and UDF to bring down liquor consumption levels and availability.
“I wish to proceed with the same stand,” he said. Sudheeran opened up after Excise Minister K Babu repeated his stand in public that the opinion of an individual could not be imposed upon others.