Kottayam: The Left Democratic Front had invited KC(M) chairman K. M. Mani to become the chief minister just before the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. But he rejected the offer as he did not want to wreck the UDF. This claim was made by the Kerala Congress (M) mouthpiece 'Prathichaya' in its editorial on Wednesday.
It may be recalled that senior CPM leader and PWD Minister G. Sudhakaran had said at Kallar in Idukki district recently: "If Mani had listened to the LDF, he could have reached greater political heights.”
“Though Mr Mani was given a strong offer, he was against toppling the UDF government," the editorial in the weekly said.
The editorial maintained that the statement of Mr Sudhakaran on the offer was not made with bad intention. However, Mr Sudhakaran had later stated that his words were distorted by the media.
The editorial alleged that many Congress leaders had wanted to oust Mr Mani from the UDF and adopted double standard towards him.
Poonjar MLA P.C. George said earlier that he had conducted discussions with the LDF leaders for making Mr Mani the chief minister.
Prathichaya said the Congress leaders maligned him in connection with the bar bribe case. His son Jose K. Mani forced Mr Mani not to accept the CM’s post with the LDF support.
The editorial alleged that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had offered to make Mr Jose K. Mani a central minister, but he did not keep his word.
Reacting to the editorial, Mr Mani said that he had never desired to become the chief minister or tried to sabotage the UDF. He was not aware of the editorial and he was not consulted about it, he said.
