THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KC (M) mouthpiece Pratichaya has alleged that former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy tried to split the party. Before Mr Mani resigned over bar scam, Mr Chandy wanted to retain P.J. Joseph's group so that he would not leave with Mr Mani. In fact, former chief whip and independent MLA P. C. George had alleged in an interview earlier itself that it was Mr Chandy who was playing behind the curtains, not Mr Chennithala.
On the same day when Mr Mani called his party leaders' meeting at Kottayam, a Pratichaya piece targeting Mr Chandy came, alleging that a former UDF minister (K. C. Joseph) met Mr Joseph and urged him not resign. The magazine also claimed that it was a shrewd move of Mr Chandy to delay receiving the resignation of the then chief whip Thomas Unniyadan and also that of his predecessor, P. C. George.
The Pratichaya had reported that when Mr Chandy accepted the resignation of Mr Mani, he didn't accept the resignation of Unniyadan. It also alleges that Chandy purposefully created a rift between Francis George and Mani. But the serious allegation raised by the KC (M) mouthpiece is that Congress had demanded to the Union government that Mani should not be appointed as chairman of Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers. But Congress leader Joseph Vazhakkan reacted that the ideal leader to respond to these allegations is none other than P. J. Joseph. He claimed that it shows that Mani doesn't trust even Joseph.
