THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Latin Catholic Archbishop M. Soosapakiam refused to accompany Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi to Poonthura and Vizhinjam on Thursday though the KPCC leaders tried hard to get his participation in the tour. KPCC president M. M. Hassan first went to Vellayambalam Bishop's House on Wednesday to invite the archbishop, and he was followed by former chief minister Oommen Chandy and opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala. Soosapakiam told them that he did not want to take sides in the government-opposition row over the cyclone relief efforts.
The archbishop told Mr Hassan that Eugene H. Pereira, vicar-general of the Thiruvananthapuram Archdiocese, will coordinate the coastal programme. Mr Chandy also dashed to Bishop's House along with Kovalam MLA M. Vincent to coax the archbishop who remained firm in his stand. Later in the evening, Mr Chennithala tried his luck, but in vain. "Soosapakiam declined the invitation citing that he did not want to politicise the cyclone or the visit of Rahul Gandhi to the coastal areas," said a Congress leader.
A source close to the archbishop confirmed to DC that the Congress leaders had visited the Bishop's House. Soosapakiam extended an invitation to Mr Rahul Gandhi to visit the Bishop's House instead. "But the Congress leadership invited the archbishop to Indira Bhavan. He declined the invitation saying that by doing so, he will have to visit the political parties' offices in future whenever national leaders visited the state," said the source.
