Unfazed Congress threatens to expose Mani after his Cong (M) severs ties

The Congress is not aggrieved by Kerala Congress (M) chief K M Mani's decision to sever ties that lasted for nearly 35 years. Instead, party leaders unleashed their ire and threatened to expose Mani who reaped benefits at the cost of the party over these years. Despite P K Kunhalikutty and Oommen Chandy going soft on the former finance minister, the adamant stand taken by KPCC president VM Sudheeran and opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala led to the eventual exit of Mani.
Mani, who had been employing pressure tactics for the past one month threatening to leave UDF, had boycotted UDF meetings.However, the Congress viewed this as another bargaining tactic. Sudheeran and Chennithala were quite critical and termed the KC(M) decision as 'opportunistic politics'.
“Mani will stay where there is power. If UDF had won the polls, he would not have taken this decision. His decision to retain ties with Congress at the local-body level is proof that he craves power," said Chennithala.
The KPCC president was upset that Mani had never raised such issues at UDF meetings after polls. “Mani decided to quit the UDF first and then found reasons for the same. Mani has to decide whether the MLAs should resign or not," he said.
Meanwhile, leaders have demanded the resignation of KC (M) MLAs who won with the support of the Congress. UDF convener PP Thankachan reiterated this view. “If Mani is decent, he should sever ties with Congress fully,“ he said. KPCC vice-president VD Satheesan felt that the party paid a heavy price by protecting Mani. “This action resulted in one huge defeat for the Congress. Now, Mani is blaming the Congress and seeking CPM's support,“ he said, adding that Mani took such a decision to please the CPM since the vigilance has tightened the noose in the bar bribery case.
However, Oommen Chandy termed the former finance minister's decision as unfortunate. He added that the bar bribery case had distanced Mani from the Congress. Even, IUML leader PK Kunhalikutty was guarded in his response in Malappuram after Mani announced his decision.
He said that IUML leaders will hold a discussion with Mani once again. “He had informed the IUML that he will meet them after the Charalkunnu camp. We will have a talk about what led to this decision. If KC(M) sticks to its stand, we will address the issue politically," he said. Kunhalikutty said that future course of action would be decided after the UDF meeting on Wednesday. The party's stand on the issue would be announced after the meeting," he said. But, T N Prathapan and K Muraleedharan were quite firm in their replies and warned that Mani's deeds would be exposed in the coming days. “The Congress will regain its lost glory. The party will be rejuvenated as it will not have to protect the corrupt. In the coming days we will be forced to come out with what all benefit K M Mani and his party had achieved at the cost of the Congress,“ said Prathapan. Now Congress leadership will have to take a decision on fully severing ties with KC(M). “The party does not favour any opportunistic ties. Hence a decision will have to be taken soon," he said.