KOTTAYAM: In a no-holds-barred attack on former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Kerala Congress(M) organ Prathichhaya alleged that the Congress leader had tried to engineer a split in the KC(M) following K M Mani’s resignation as Finance Minister.
Titled ‘Kerala Congress Swantham Kalil Nilkkum( Kerala Congress(M) will stand on its own), the write-up, that appeared in August 10 edition of Prathichhaya, claimed that a minister himself was sent from the Cliff House, the CM’s official residence, to the home of the then Water Resources Minister P J Joseph to urge him not to follow in Mani’s footsteps thereby engineering a split within the KC(M) ranks. However, the plan fell flat, it added.
It also flayed Chandy’s decision to accept Mani’s resignation on the same day that he submitted it while withholding that of the then Chief Whip Thomas Unniyadan. The article says the action also hurt the party deeply. It also takes exception to the “mean” action taken against P C George, who had earlier stepped down as the Chief Whip.
The Chief Minister, who dilly dallied on taking a decision on a resignation submitted at the behest of the Kerala Congress chairman kept it with him for 14 days, it adds.
“Both the leaders and the followers are saying that enough is enough. We cannot stand this discrimination and apathy anymore. The decision made by the party at Charalkunnu was a natural reaction to all the injustices meted out to the KC(M),” it concludes.