AICC comes to Ramesh Chennithala aid

AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik, who is in charge of the party affairs in Kerala, said in New Delhi that no such letter was received by the AICC. However, KPCC sources said that the demand for a high-level inquiry into the issue would stay.

“I want to make it very clear that the high command has not received any such letter which is being talked about in sections of the media,” Mr Wasnik said. He also said that it was high time the controversy was buried.

“I believe that Ramesh Chennithala has already made public statement on this issue. He unequivocally made it clear that he has not written any such letter. Unfortunately even after his statement, some sections of the media reported that sources close to the high command had confirmed that it had received such a letter,” he added.

Despite the intervention of the high command, discontent continues to simmer in the state Congress. Forest minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, a staunch Oommen Chandy loyalist, criticised Ramesh for having written the letter. He even termed it as an act of indiscipline.

The minister’s outburst has provoked the I group, prompting Joseph Vazhakkan, a trusted lieutenant of Ramesh Chennithala, to criticise Thiruvanchur for making the letter an issue when the AICC itself has denied that it has not received any such letter from Ramesh.

Senior A group leaders told DC that the AICC’s clarification was not enough to lift the suspicion. “Many of us knew that Chennithala had not sent the letter to the AICC but our feeling is that he could have released the letter to a Delhi-based journalist of his choice,” a source said.