Gift to Mani leaves Congress bruised

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The turmoil within the Congress over renouncing its claim on the Rajya Sabha seat to KC (M) worsened on Friday, with former KPCC president V M Sudheeran walking out from the UDF high power committee meeting and another senior leader and MLA K Muraleedharan boycotting the meeting to protest the decision.
The growing unrest in the party, marked by isolated public protests and a protest wave in the social media led by young leaders, however, failed to impress the Congress high command, which has decided not to review the decision.

Though former chief minister Oommen Chandy and opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, who welcomed Mani into the UDF after a gap of two years, defended the decision later, Sudheeran made a scathing attack against the party leadership and dubbed the decision catastrophic.

Meanwhile, Muraleedharan told reporters that he was staying away from the UDF meeting as he felt forsaking the RS seat would cost dearly for the Congress. "I am happy that Mani is back . But I feel the price the Congress had to pay was huge. I will stay away from the UDF meeting in solidarity with the party workers," he said.

Muraleedharan also made a jibe at the party leadership saying that it could now offer its Lok Sabha seat to M P Veerendra Kumar's Janata Dal and bring him too into the UDF's fold. Though UDF convener P P Thankachan too stayed away from the UDF meeting, he later clarified that he had an unavoidable programme and had secured the required permission in advance to skip the meeting.

Sudheeran, who stepped out as soon as Mani entered the meeting room at the Cantonment House (Chennithala's official residence), told reporters waiting outside that giving RS seat to Mani will not benefit the UDF. "It is the most destructive decision ever taken by the Congress, which cannot be accepted by party workers or people in the state. It can only benefit the BJP," he said.

Criticising the 'non-transparent' way in which the decision to give the seat to a party outside the UDF was taken, Sudheeran alleged a big conspiracy behind the decision. "The party workers have been raising a huge protest for renouncing the RS seat for the KC (M). The AICC should review the decision, and I have already written to the party high command to intervene," he said adding that he also preferred to register his protest in public.

Six young MLAs in the party wrote to the AICC president Rahul Gandhi with a request to review the decision.

Meanwhile, Mani who maintained that his party deserved the seat, said 'stray instances of protests' within the Congress party were 'natural'. "We weren't persistent in getting the seat and did not put forth any conditions,"he said.