THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan attending the Oommen Chandy commemoration meet organised by the KPCC on Monday, has not gone down well with a section of Congress leaders. It was Congress veteran A K Antony who suggested inviting Pinarayi to the meet as Chandy was one of the leading statesmen the state has ever produced.
Dr P Sarin of KPCC digital cell was the first leader to come out in the open claiming that Pinarayi should not have been invited to the memorial programme as he and the LDF government had hounded the departed leader on solar scam. At Ayyankali Hall, several ordinary party workers were heard whispering that Pinarayi should not have been invited.
A senior Congress leader close to party state president K Sudhakaran told TNIE that it was Antony who mooted the suggestion that a leader of Chandy’s repute be invited to speak at the commemoration meet. “V D Satheesan and Sudhakaran were initially reluctant to the proposal. Antony insisted that, at Chandy’s commemoration event, politics should not be a barrier. He maintained that the situation should be dealt with in a mature way. Following this, the Congress leadership invited Pinarayi to attend the programme,” he said.
Antony had stayed away from the memorial programme. Since Chandy was like a younger brother, he would not be able to speak about his close association with him, Antony felt.