Kerala Congress feud snowballs

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While the row over the controversial letter written by government chief whip PC George against the Vigilance court judge dealing with the palmolein case as well as the issue of George who is holding the chief whip post availing of cabinet rank continues to rock the state, the factional feud in the Kerala Congress has also slowly come out in the open.

Even when accepting the fact that George had written  the controversial letter in his personal capacity,  Water Resources Minister P J Joseph said here on Tuesday that all matters related to the letter will be discussed in detail after party chairman and Finance Minister K M  Mani returned from abroad. Joseph, who is known to have no love lost for  George, even when the groups led by the respective leaders had flocked the Kerala Congress bandwagon led by Mani a couple of years ago, also disputed the reported statement of  George, who is also the only vice-chairman of  the outfit, that the Kerala Congress was not taking up any  people’s issues and that the party cadre were only interested in raising slogans as and when demanded by the party supremo.

“The statement of  George is not correct.  Even in recent times, the party had led an agitation across the state against moves of  the State Bank group to confiscate holdings of  farmers. The party chairman and myself  had participated in it,”  Joseph said.Meanwhile, the Congress leaders have now begun to adopt  a guarded approach on the letter issue by backing  the stand of  George that he had written the letter against the judge in his personal capacity,  while  remaining silent about the fact that he had used the letterhead of  the chief whip for it.

They are also silent on the petition submitted by former MP Sebastian Paul to the Governor seeking action against George on the premise of  his holding an office of  profit. It is pointed out that as an MLA and chief whip, George was not entitled to a cabinet rank and its attendant privileges.

The Governor’s office had sought the opinion of  the Election Commission on the petition. After disowning the action of  George at the initial stage, KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala later toned down his criticism and said that George will not be left isolated.Now all eyes are on the Kerala Congress top leadership whose decisions can prove crucial in George’s case.