Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress allowed the communal organisations to call the shots in Konni and Vattiyoo-rkavu which boomera-nged. The KPCC did not pay heed to the former MLAs, who had recommended the nam-es of other candidates.
Muraleedharan had proposed his loyalist, former Kollam MP N. Peethambara Kurup in Vattiyoorkavu, and Adoor Prakash wanted Pramadam grama panchayat president Robin Peter in Konni, but th-ey were sidelined. Opp-osition Leader Ramesh Chennithala took the final call and fielded State Human Rights Commission member K. Mohan Kumar in Vattiyoorkavu and ‘A’ group leader and former Pathanamthitta DCC president P. Mo-hanraj in Konni succumbing to the diktat of NSS general secretary G. Sukumaran Na-ir. A senior Congress leader from Pathanam-thitta said the Congr-ess had come third at Kalanjoor, the booth of DCC president Babu George.
“Babu George has started a social media campaign stating that if not for the internal squabbles, Mohanraj would have won. he is taking an anticipatory bail for fear of a backlash,” he said.
Muraleedharan felt Christian voters dese-rted UDF after the NSS leaders spit venom at the LDF. Ezhava voters also did not approve of the attack, said a sour-ce close to the MP.
