Congress leaders target Wasnik over RS seat to KC (Mani)

Thiruvananthapuram, June 9: Trouble continued in the Congress in Kerala, with a section of the leadership, including seniors, complaining to party chief Rahul Gandhi against the state-in-charge Mukul Wasnik accusing him of failing to prevent the “gifting” of a Rajya Sabha seat to Kerala Congress (Mani). The infuriated senior leaders, including Members of Parliament, filed the complaint against General Secretary Wasnik, alleging he did not rise to the occasion and “failed” to alert Gandhi of the “actual facts” prior to his consent to K.M. Mani’s return to the UDF folds, party sources said. Gandhi has asked Wasnik to submit a detailed report on the sequence of events.

The mails contain serious complaints against Wasnik for “meekly succumbing” to the demands made by former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala and state Congress president M.M. Hassan. It also said that Wasnik has failed to take into account the feelings and emotions of the ordinary workers of the party. Early on Saturday, a coffin was spotted outside the Congress district office in Ernakulam with pictures of Chandy and Chennithala on it after they wilfully succumbed to Mani’s “pressure” and gifted the Rajya Sabha seat to KC(M). (IANS)