Chandy, Chennithala declare truce

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Differences between Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala over the recent
reshuffle of key portfolios in the ministry ended as a storm in a teacup, at least
for now. Both of  them declared after a half-an-hour meeting at the KPCC headquarters here on Wednesday that all issues in the Congress on this score had been resolved.
 ‘’There was some misunderstanding. It has been cleared,’’ Chandy said after the talks. ‘’It was true that there was some communication gap. It has been solved,’’ Chennithala said. At the end of the talks, it was also decided to convene a meeting of the KPCC executive on May 2, to apprise all that the misgivings had been cleared.  The thaw in the relations between the duo was understandably caused by the strict directive issued by the party high command to bury the hatchet and move in unison, especially against the backdrop of the upcoming bypoll in the Neyyattinkara Assembly segment. It is believed that Defence Minister A K Antony also played a crucial in the patch-up.


 ‘’The KPCC president and the party had given me support much more than I deserved and it will continue,’’ the Chief Minister said after coming out of the talks, flanked by UDF convenor P P Thankachan and Chennithala. ‘’Some issues had cropped up with the reshuffle. I explained the special circumstances in which the reshuffle of portfolios was carried out. All the misunderstanding have been cleared,’’ Chandy said.
 ‘’Even while in the Opposition, I had got the wholehearted support from Oommen Chandy. Both of us have a responsibility to solve the issues in the party,’’ Chennithala said. He also asked
party leaders to desist from airing views in the public in view of the decision to hold the KPCC executive meeting on May 2.
 Allegations of keeping the KPCC president in the dark on the Cabinet reshuffle had started to rock the Congress state unit with factional outbursts pouring in in the past few days. Though the Chief
Minister had tried to play it down, the `broad I group’ was in no mood to give up.
 .Irrepressible MP K Sudhakaran had fired a salvo stating that any attempt to snub the KPCC chief as second to anyone will have its repercussions.  The Chief Minister said earlier in the day that the PCC chief’s was the last word of the Congress in a state and he was second to none, which, in turn, created a ground for conducive talks later.