The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) today downplayed the protest among party workers over its decision to forgo a Rajya Sabha seat in favour of the Kerala Congress (M), which returned to the UDF coalition after a gap of two years.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, KPCC president M M Hassan said the protest over the decision was natural in a democratic party, but cautioned that it should not cross limits.
He said the party leadership also understood the workers' sentiments and their pain over the decision.
"We are also pained by the decision... but it was taken with a view to strengthen the party-led UDF and democratic forces to take on the BJP and the LDF in the state," Hassan said.
The Congress party would issue a whip asking its MLAs to vote for Jose K Mani, the RS candidate of the K M Mani-led KC(M).
However, the KPCC chief admitted that the KC(M) insisted on the seat as a condition for its re-entry into the UDF fold.
Meanwhile, rumblings in the party over the RS seat issue continued with former KPCC president V M Sudheeran saying that party workers felt that they were being cheated.
The senior leader also alleged that the decision lacked transparency.
The seat is currently held by Rajya Sabha deputy chairman P J Kurian of the Congress, who is set to retire on July 1.
Two young Congress MLAs, V T Balaram and K S Sabarinathan, who were among those who asked AICC chief Rahul Gandhi to reconsider the decision, expressed their displeasure again.
Balaram, in a Facebook post, called for a leadership change in the party and said people with vision and those who understood the pulse of the grassroot-level workers were the need of the hour.
The decision to field Jose Mani, son of K M Mani, as the candidate was taken at a KC(M) meeting held last night in Pala, near Kottayam, hours after the party rejoined the UDF.
Jose K Mani is currently the party's lone member in the Lok Sabha from the Kottayam parliamentary constituency.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)