THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The defiant voices within the Congress grew strident on Saturday with more leaders attacking the Congress leadership in the state for sullying the image of the party with the ‘fifth minister’ row. The discontent is over dragging the Speaker’s post into the issue and keeping the party in the dark regarding the recent developments.
Though KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala chose to play down the reports that he had been asked by the party high command to join the UDF ministry as Deputy CM and said the consensus ‘formulae’ were media creation, there were few takers for his explanation even within the Congress.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy also said that the formulae were media creation and that the issue of fifth minister for the IUML will be sorted out soon.
Senior Congress leader V M Sudheeran told Express that the state party leadership was too late in denying the existence of the formulae and that the recent muddle has taken the sheen off the thumping victory of UDF in Piravom.
“In a bid to find a solution to the fifth minister berth to IUML, the Congress has landed in a deeper crisis. Instead of finding a simple solution, it has created more problems.There is confusion within the party and among the workers. The KPCC executive committee should be called immediately to bring clarity on the issue,” he said.
He said that it was unfortunate that the Speaker was dragged into the controversy. The problem should be settled at the earliest. “The Congress has always respected the sanctity of the Speaker’s post and to drag it into the row is unfortunate not only for the UDF but also for democracy,” he added.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Vayalar Ravi held a closed-door meeting with Speaker G Karthikeyan at here. Karthikeyan conveyed his displeasure over putting the Speaker’s position at stake for settling the row with a constituent partner.
Vayalar Ravi, reacting to Congress leader K Muraleedharan's comment the other day, said Muraleedharan is a sensible leader and his words are keenly watched by the public. UDF convener P P Thankachan also made it clear that in the KPCC meeting held on April 3, the majority was against allotting the fifth minister berth at this juncture to the IUML.
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