Thiruvananthapuram: More than a month after coming a cropper in the assembly election, the Kerala Congress (M) cadres seem to be seething in anger against their United Democratic Front coalition partner, the Congress party.
The Kerala Congress (M) apparently seems to believe that the liquor bar bribery allegation was a conspiracy staged by vested interests in the coalition to torpedo the party’s prospects.
In the latest development, a magazine considered to be the party’s mouthpiece has severely criticised the Congress for bringing “disrepute” to the party.
In an editorial in Prathichaya (Image), the Congress has been accused of “duplicity”. The editorial, titled ‘the group dance of traitors’, said “those who played a drama in the liquor bar bribery case would be better fits in the role of Brutus”.
Kerala Congress (M) leader K.M. Mani who was finance minister in the UDF government and K. Babu who was excise minister had both faced uphill tasks in the assembly election. Mani won by a slender margin while Babu was defeated.
What enraged the Kerala Congress (M) cadres is the fact that senior Congress leaders like former chief minister Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala recently attended liquor bar owner Biju Ramesh’s daughter’s wedding reception.
Ramesh was the one who alleged that he and his liquor bar association colleagues had bribed Mani. The former finance minister strongly refuted the allegation, but as the pressure mounted he had to resign from the Chandy government.
Mani played down the editorial in the magazine, pointing out that “it is an independent magazine, and the views are theirs”. The editorial alleges that a “gang of traitors” colluded to bring down Mani and that they got together at Biju Ramesh’s daughter’s wedding.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president, V.M. Sudheeran said the issues with the Kerala Congress (M) would be solved through negotiations.
