Congress Working Committee member Oommen Chandy and Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala on Tuesday signalled an end to the bonhomie with the LDF Government led by Pinarayi Vijayan on the Citizenship Amendment Act.
The two leaders, who addressed a press conference in Delhi, along with KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran, came out strongly against the CPI(M), for trying to drive a wedge in the Congress over its stand on the issue by singling out Mr. Ramachandran for his opposition to the joint UDF and LDF campaign.
The two leaders defended Mr. Ramachandran’s independent stand on the issue and criticised the CPI(M) leadership for casting aspersion on the secular credentials of Mr. Ramachandran.
Talks with Sonia
According to party sources, the controversy over the joint campaign figured in the discussions that the State leaders had with party president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi.
Even though the meeting took place to formalise the proposed reconstitution of the KPCC and some of the DCCs, the joint campaign of the UDF and the LDF came up during the course of the discussions.
It may be recalled that Mr. Chennithala and Mr. Chandy had come out in favour of the joint campaign for the message it sought send across the country, but Mr. Ramachandran took a hard stand and refused to accept such a move.
Hard stand
Besides refusing to associate himself with such campaigns, Mr. Ramachandran made it clear that the KPCC under him would continue to take a hard stand against the CPI(M) and the unpopular rule of the LDF.
Mr. Chennithala had come out with a clarification soon after, stating that the joint campaign had only one single purpose to express the strong reactions of the State to the CAA.
The UDF, soon after, announced that it would resume its agitations against the LDF government. It is to be presumed that the joint statement of the Kerala leaders in Delhi brings down the curtains on the differences on the CAA campaign.
