Contain Congress group war, UDF leaders tell Sonia Gandhi

Kottayam: The UDF leaders met Congress president Sonia Gandhi  on Wednesday and demanded that the Congress should set its house in order to enable the UDF to  face the coming Assembly elections unitedly.  They openly shared their apprehensions about ongoing group feud within the Congress.

The Congress allies, including the Kerala Congress (M), also demanded more seats for them in the Assembly elections. The leaders met Mrs Gandhi  at the Nattakom guest house while she came to inaugurate the silver jubilee celebrations of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology at Pampady.  

Kerala Congress (M) chairman K.M. Mani said that he had not raised the bar bribe case with her but    stressed that the KC (M) should get its  ‘rightful seats’ in the  elections.  Referring to the letter sent allegedly by Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala  to the AICC complaining against Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, he said the Congress leaders should refrain from alienating the minority communities.

“I did not raise the bar bribe case with the Congress president as there is no substance in it. We brought to her notice the plight of rubber farmers due to the fall in the prices and sought steps to help them,” he told reporters.  

Mr Mani was  accompanied by Water Resources Minister P.J. Joseph, MPs  Joy Abraham  and  Jose K. Mani, and Mr Francis George. IUML leader P.K. Kunhalikutty urged Mrs Gandhi to solve the issues in the UDF, though they are not serious.   

KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran submitted a memorandum to her to solve the concerns of the rubber farmers. RSP leader N.K. Premachandran said the Congress should give the right  leadership to the UDF.

JSS leader A.N. Rajan Babu and  Kerala Congress (J) leader Johny Nelloor also met Mrs Gandhi and urged her to solve the problems in the Congress. Mr  Johny Nelloor said  his party wanted  more seats in the elections.  He was accompanied by Food and Civil Supplies Minister Anoop Jacob.