Kerala - Kottayam   

Varghese admits he held talks with Joseph

Staff Reporter

He accuses George of initiating talks with UDF

KOTTAYAM: In an anticlimax to the `ouster drama' in the Kerala Congress (Secular), the expelled former party chairman Eapen Varghese on Thursday suspended the party's legislature party leader P.C. George from the party for a period of six years. Mr. George has been accused of anti-LDF activities.

Speaking to mediapersons here on Thursday, Mr. Varghese said that Mr. George had asked him to initiate discussions with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy for a possible entry into the ruling dispensation. This was vehemently opposed by him, but Mr. George went ahead with the plan with the aim of latching on to the United Democratic Front (UDF) bandwagon.

Mr. Varghese alleged that the statements and actions on the part of Mr. George had resulted in deteriorating the party's relations with Left Democratic Front (LDF) constituents, especially the Communist Party of India (Marxist). On two occasions, Mr. George took open positions against CPI(M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan — on the entry of P.C. Thomas into the Kerala Congress led by P.J. Joseph and during an interview given to a private television channel. On both occasions, the opinions he expressed were his personal ones and not that of the party. The position of the party had to be clarified and it was against this backdrop that he held talks with the CPI(M) State secretary.

Reacting to a question, Mr. Varghese said that like most Kerala Congress men, he too was interested in the unification of the various Kerala Congress factions, and in the light of such discussions held within the Kerala Congress (Secular), he had held discussions with the KC leader P.J. Joseph. He is calling a meeting of the `State committee' of the party on October 28 when more people found `guilty of anti-party activities' will face the axe, Mr. Varghese said.

K. Varghese and Ponnamma Narayanan Nair, both vice-presidents of KC(S), Elias Zacharia, general secretary, and Sasikumar Cherukol, organising secretary, participated in the press conference.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Varghese admits he held talks with Joseph

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu