Despite strong interventions by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), the row over the SilverLine protests that erupted in the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kottayam appears to be escalating into a bigger crisis.
In a new turn of events, Saji Manjakadamnil, chairman of the UDF Kottayam district committee, has sent a letter to KPCC president K. Sudhakaran seeking his immediate intervention in the issue. In the letter, Mr. Manjakadambil also spoke about receiving a threatening phone call from a purported aide of Nattakom Suresh, president of the District Congress Committee.
“The claim by Mr. Suresh that he was not informed about the protest is actually wrong as I myself had conveyed him a message in this regard. In fact, it was at the District Congress Committee office where the meeting to plan the protest was held. When I tried to reach out to Mr. Suresh for a media briefing on the protest, he neither answered nor returned my phone calls,” he told mediapersons
Meanwhile, a section in the Congress is learned to have approached the KPCC president accusing Mr. Suresh of deliberately sabotaging the UDF protest at the behest of a CPI(M) leader. According to them, the absence of Mr. Suresh in the event and the controversies that ensued are proving too costly for the coalition as a whole.
Meanwhile, the KPCC president is learned have sought an explanation from Mr. Suresh on the controversial episode. Besides Mr. Sudhakaran, senior leaders Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala have expressed their displeasure over the developments in Kottayam.
The controversy, which comes at a time when the UDF is significantly improving its presence in Kottayam on the back of anti-SilverLine protests, has now put the coalition on the back foot. The latest round of infighting began with a public outburst of Mr. Suresh against Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan last week.
