Vaikom Viswam demands resignation of Mani, Chandy

THODUPUZHA. As the Vigilance Court ordered further probe into bar bribery case, the Left seized the opportunity to demand for the resignation of Minister K M Mani and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.

LDF convenor Vaikom Viswan made this demand here on Thursday. “As the court is convinced that there had been attempts to sabotage the case, the ministers should resign and face the probe. LDF will resume its intense protest soon. The party will today decide on the method of protest,” he said.  

Vaikom Viswam also welcomed the court order and demanded further probe under the supervision of the court. He was speaking to media persons at ‘Nethavu Nilapadu’ programme at Idukki Press Club.  

“Even before the court gave the orders, the chief minister and the home minister had given a clean chit to Mani. Their statements were suffice to prove that the ministers were trying to torpedo the case using their influence. The Vigilance team also degraded itself by trying to windup the case. Action should also be initiated against Vigilance DGP Winson M Paul in this regard” he said.

Viswam said the Left would resume agitations demanding the resignation of Mani soon and they would not wait for the local body elections to get over. The strike action plan would be charted out before 4 pm on Thursday.  

Chandy, Sudheeran to be made witness on complaint against George

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will be made a witness on the complaint of Kerala Congress (M) seeking disqualification of P C George MLA.

Speaker N Shakthan has sent a notice to the chief minister asking him to appear on Thursday and give his statement. George had earlier requested to make Chandy a witness.

The Kerala Congress in their complaint has asked to disqualify George as per anti-defection law. The KC (M) argued that it is a proof that he has left the party on his own after fielding a candidate against the candidate from his front.

Chandy, godfather of SNDP-RSS tie-up, says VS

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is the godfather of the attempts made to float a party jointly by SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan and BJP, said opposition leader V S Achuthanandan.

VS said yesterday’s statement of Chandy proves it. Chandy’s voice on the issue is not the same as that of KPCC chief V M Sudheeran. The CPI (M) has never joined hands with the RSS. It turns against Chandy and the congress when the RSS links are mentioned, he said.

VS asked whether Chandy has forgotten the Vatakara-Beypore model Congress-League-BJP alliance which found a place in history. Even if Chandy conveniently hides the withdrawal of VHP leader Praveen Togadia’s case and the case against ABVP, accused in the murder attempt towards a cop at the MG College in the capital city, the people knows about it, he said.

Mani, Chandy, come down heavily on George

KOTTAYAM: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Finance Minister K M Mani came down heavily on the statement of Chief Whip P C George that the Kerala Congress (M) is in the mid-sea. Reacting to it, Mani said the party is not in the mid sea and is very firm in the land. It was George’s personal opinion and he does not owe a reply for it. The statements of George are not the policies of the party. As per his style, he just blabbers. The party meeting attended by George did not seek my resignation, he said.

Meantime, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy also rejected George’s stand seeking the resignation of Mani. The UDF meet attended by George did not seek Mani’s resignation. I don’t know in which situation he made the statement now. The probe in the bar case is moving in the right manner. The statements obtained so far is not against Mani, he said.

Chandy, Chennithala to discuss cabinet expansion

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and KPCC chief Ramesh Chennithala will hold discussion on cabinet expansion for the third time on Wednesday.

Chandy, who arrived here after holding talks with High Command in Delhi, rang Ramesh up and told him that he would meet the latter today. But the time of the meeting has not been fixed.

The Congress ‘I’ group supporting Ramesh Chennithala wants him to join the cabinet only if he was given the Home Ministry. But the ‘A’ group is reluctant to pass the Home Ministry to Ramesh.

Chandy, League trying to corner KC (M): Vellappally

ALAPPUZHA: Vellappally Natesan, general secretary of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, has said that the Indian Union Muslim League has got an upper hand in governance because of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s policy of making it and the Congress share the fruits of power by cornering the Kerala Congress (M). Inaugurating a delegates’ meeting at the State conference of the Kerala Brahmana Sabha, Natesan said the Muslim League had been in power in the State by wearing the mask of social justice.

“The Ministers from the party had visited the houses of SNDP Yogam and Nair Service Society leaders before the elections seeking support, but are now protecting only their community. The United Democratic Front government has been playing vote-bank politics,” he said. He said social justice could be achieved only through the consolidation of communities. “There is no problem in telling your caste with pride. Then only you will get your rights,” he said. Natesan said acres of paddy land in Thuravur in the district were to be reclaimed in the name of a project submitted before the Emerging Kerala meet.

Chandy, Chennithala call on Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and KPCC chief Ramesh Chennithala had a secret meeting with NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair four days before. Chandy, Chennithala and Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan had earlier held separate discussions with him.

The NSS had sought to settle the dispute between Minister K B Ganesh Kumar and R Balakrishna Pillai. The father-son duo had closed door talks following that.

Nair requested the leaders to solve the problems in the education sector. It is heard that the two had assured to consider the demands proposed by the NSS.

Chandy, Ramesh spokespersons of group, says Sudheeran

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and KPCC chief Ramesh Chennithala are spokespersons of the group in the congress party. The leader said that he is anxious over the re-organisation of the KPCC.

Hope talks in connection with the re-organisation would be justifiable. Efficiency should be the criteria for the re-organisation, he said.

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.

Chandy, Congress in a fix over fifth cabinet berth

Thiruvananthapuram, Monday, April 16, 2012: By conceding the demand of Indian Union Muslim League for a fifth ministerial berth in the Congress-led UDF government, both Congress and Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy have landed in a tight spot with several of its leaders coming out against the decision.
Though the issue would not immediately in any way affect the 11-month-old government, which has only a wafer thin majority in the assembly, voices of differences raised by Congress leaders, including Power Minister Arayadan Muhammed, have caste a shadow over the ministry.
UDF has 72 members in the 140-strong assembly and CPI-M-led LDF has 67. One seat is lying vacant, following the resignation of CPI-M’s R Selvaraj, the assembly membership which he won from Neyyatinkara segment in Thiruvananthapuram district.
The discontent brewing up in Congress has come as an embarrassment to UDF as it was riding high on the popularity of Chandy after the impressive win of the UDF candidate at the assembly bypoll from Piravom constituency last month.
It has become all the more embarrassing as the issue cropped up at a time when the Front was preparing itself to face the crucial bypoll in Neyyatinkara. The Front has extended support to Selvaraj’s candidature.

Chandy, Ramesh struggle to contain berth fallout

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With discontent growing  in the Congress over the fifth minister allotment to IUML, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala are slated to meet the  High Command in Delhi in the coming days to sort out the issues.  Chandy told reporters on Friday that he was taking up the responsibility of allotting the fifth minister berth to IUML. Already, Aryadan Mohammed who kept away from the swearing-in ceremony protesting against the fifth ministership to IUML has expressed his concern to A K Antony. He even offered to quit as minister which was objected to by Antony.
Ramesh also contacted the Congress leadership and conveyed the party leaders’ resentment over keeping the portfolio reallocation as a secret till the last minute.  “Though the allotment of fifth berth to IUML was taken in consultation with the KPCC chief, he and other senior Congress leaders were kept in the dark by the CM regarding the reallocation. It was at the last minute after getting the nod from the High Command that the CM told Ramesh and UDF convenor P P Thankachan about the shuffle.
Chandy on Wednesday night had communicated to the High Command  the firm stand of the IUML. If the Congress did not  accept  the IUML demand, it was ready to withdraw its ministers and  support the government from outside. ‘’It is clear that CM was in a great dilemma. The allotment of berth to IUML and the portfolio reallocation to maintain communal balance were  done in this context,” said T N Prathapan, a Chandy loyalist. K Muraleedharan said that the induction of the fifth minister  has tarnished the image of the party and the government.
 Congress MP P J Kurien said the situation should have been avoided. Congress leader K Babu also opined that it was better if the fifth berth was not given to IUML.  ‘’The decision to grant the IUML a fifth berth could have been avoided, but it was taken unitedly at a UDF meet. Those criticising the Chief Minister for giving it to the IUML had not placed any other formula  acceptable to all,” he said.

Chandy, George playing hide-and-seek game: Isaac

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:   Former Finance Minister and CPM leader T M Thomas Isaac has alleged that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and government chief whip P C George are playing a hide-and-seek game with regard to latter’s controversial letter to the President and other key constitutional functionaries commenting on the functioning about the Thiruvananthapuram Vigilance Court judge.Isaac alleged that both Chandy and George were trying to put the judge dealing with the palmolein case, under pressure.