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Cong gags leaders as factions fight on
Kerala Congress president Ramesh Chennithala on Wednesday banned public statements by leaders on the vexed Nelliyampathy estates issue even as the faction war in the party intensified with posters appearing at its State headquarters blasting Chief Minister Oommen Chandy for being a “communalist”.
Chennithala said in a statement that the gag order was being issued as per instructions from the AICC. The ban on public statements followed the escalation in the war of words between the anti-Chandy “Green Group” and Congress spokesman MM Hassan over the issue of encroachment of Forest Department land in Nelliyampathy in Palakkad district.
The statement war
within the Congress had followed a protracted battle between its “Green Group” comprising some young MLAs and Government Chief Whip PC George, also vice-chairman of the Kerala Congress-M, a Church-backed party championing the cause of cash crop farmers and settlers in the mountainous regions of the State.
The Forests department claims that the disputed land in Nelliyampathy, known as the Ooty of the Poor, belongs to it but George, seen by many as Chandy’s personal trouble-shooter, argues that it is Revenue land leased out a century ago for plantations and the settler farmers there are the legal title-holders.
Forest Minister KB Ganesh Kumar has now sought a CBI probe into the issue. The Congress “Green Group” has sided with Ganesh Kumar and is alleging that George is speaking for land-grabbers. Chandy-camper Hassan took up the issue criticising the “Green Group” for causing embarrassment to the Congress party.
Kerala Congress president Ramesh Chennithala on Wednesday banned public statements by leaders on the vexed Nelliyampathy estates issue even as the faction war in the party intensified with posters appearing at its State headquarters blasting Chief Minister Oommen Chandy for being a “communalist”.
Chennithala said in a statement that the gag order was being issued as per instructions from the AICC. The ban on public statements followed the escalation in the war of words between the anti-Chandy “Green Group” and Congress spokesman MM Hassan over the issue of encroachment of Forest Department land in Nelliyampathy in Palakkad district.
The statement war
within the Congress had followed a protracted battle between its “Green Group” comprising some young MLAs and Government Chief Whip PC George, also vice-chairman of the Kerala Congress-M, a Church-backed party championing the cause of cash crop farmers and settlers in the mountainous regions of the State.
The Forests department claims that the disputed land in Nelliyampathy, known as the Ooty of the Poor, belongs to it but George, seen by many as Chandy’s personal trouble-shooter, argues that it is Revenue land leased out a century ago for plantations and the settler farmers there are the legal title-holders.
Forest Minister KB Ganesh Kumar has now sought a CBI probe into the issue. The Congress “Green Group” has sided with Ganesh Kumar and is alleging that George is speaking for land-grabbers. Chandy-camper Hassan took up the issue criticising the “Green Group” for causing embarrassment to the Congress party.
