KC (S) urges Congress to replace Chandy

KANNUR: Kerala Congress (Secular) leader and former MLA and Chief Whip P C George, demanded that Congress High Command replace Chief Minister Oommen Chandy by some other leader in the party. Talking to newspersons here, George said the minority communities fled away from the UDF, following the soft corner taken by the Chief Minister towards Hindutva community. Meanwhile, the BJP is going ahead with a strong Hindutva agenda. Kumanam Rajasekharan's appointment as BJP State President can be cited as an instance, he said, adding, however, the minority community will extend their cooperation to the LDF for its secular image in the State. George also said, in Kerala, the confrontation between the Congress-led UDF and CPI (M)-LDF during elections will strengthen secularism in the absence of BJP.

It is time for the Congress High Command to select a suitable leader in place of Mr Chandy, keeping the secularism aspect in mind to enable the voters to shun aside the BJP. He said Home minister Ramesh Chennithala, KPCC president V M Sudheeran and senior leader P J Kurian are good politicians and can be considered as ideal replacements for Mr Chandy to protect the secular image of the Congress. George said the Kerala Congress (Secular) would organise a massive agitation before the Gandhi statue in Kottayam on December 28 against the failure of the government to save the Rubber farmers. Chandy is having a soft corner for Hindutva community and is hobnobbing with SNDP leader Vellappally Nateshan for quite some time, he alleged.