TRIVANDRUM, 23 March 2005 — Making things worse for Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Cultural Affairs and Backward Classes Minister A.P. Anil Kumar resigned early yesterday morning. But Chandy did not accept the resignation.
Kumar, known to be a supporter of dissident leader K. Karunakaran, said he resigned following harsh criticism by his colleagues in the Congress Legislature Party (CLP).
He drew criticism for keeping away from two consecutive CLP meetings that took crucial decisions to replace Karunakaran loyalist M.P. Gangadharan as its deputy leader and to serve show cause notices on 13 legislators who attended a rebel rally called by Karunakaran.
Chandy left for Gujarat to attend the Dandi March remembrance saying he had requested Kumar to stay on.
Kumar, who later spent half an hour with Karunakaran, said he would take a decision after two days when Chandy will be back in town.
“Everything is in utter confusion. The fight will continue till Congress is cleansed,” Karunakaran said.
Karunakaran held a huge rally in Cochin on Monday challenging the authority of Chandy and demanding his removal. He paraded 13 of his loyalist legislators at the rally.
P. Sankaran, a former minister who was served notice by Chandy for attending the rally, said the loyalists did not attend the rally called by suspended former state Congress chief K Muraleedharan (Karunakaran’s son) as claimed by Chandy in the notice.
“We attended a public meeting called by veteran leader Karunakaran. There is no violation of party discipline as he is a nationally recognized senior leader who reaffirmed his loyalty to Congress President Sonia Gandhi,” he said.
Finance Minister Vakkom Purushothaman had reportedly told Anil Kumar that one couldn’t remain in the Cabinet and dissociate oneself from the collective CLP decisions.
“There is no place for divided loyalties,” Purushothaman reportedly told him.
Anil Kumar later told reporters he stayed away from the CLP meetings because he did not want to be party to the removal of Gangadharan, who also comes from his native Malappuram district.
Gangadharan was replaced by former minister and a Karunakaran supporter, Kadavoor Sivadasan, who suddenly switched loyalty to Chandy.
