THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior Congress leader Adoor Prakash has washed his hands of the party’s debacle in Konni and shifted the blame to the Pathanamthitta DCC. The Attingal MP and former Konni MLA said the local leadership had not done its home work which led to the defeat.
After keeping mum for the last two days after the announcement of the results, Prakash told reporters here on Saturday that he did not know why his loyalist Robin Peter, Pramadam grama panchayat president, was not fielded in Konni.
“When the party sought my opinion, I suggested Robin's name without considering his caste, religion or other factors. But when they decided to field former DCC president P. Mohanraj, I agreed to it. I will reveal the party’s lapses in Konni at the party forum,” he said and asked the KPCC leadership to probe the setback and take action.
“The Pathanamthitta DCC was in charge of the campaign. But its work did not reach the voters,” he alleged.
Referring to his absence from campaigning, especially for the finale and on the polling day, he maintained that on the previous occasions also he was not present for the concluding meeting.
But DCC president Babu George rubbished Prakash's claims and denied that there were lapses in the campaigning. “The KPCC president had appointed an election committee and it was in charge of the campaign. The debacle should be probed,” he said.
CPM's K. U. Jineesh Kumar wrested the seat by a margin of 9, 953 votes. Adoor Prakash had captured it from the CPM in 1996 and represented it for 23 years.
