: Kerala Congress (M) vice chairman P.C. George is likely to lose his job as Government Chief Whip as a result of his party’s decision to remove him from the post.
The decision to remove him from the post was taken at a meeting of the Kerala Congress (M) Legislature Party here on Thursday and it was subsequently conveyed to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy by Finance Minister K.M. Mani and Water Resources Minister P.J. Joseph.
It was also decided not to send Mr. George as the party’s representative to UDF committee meetings. Mr. Mani’s moves appeared to be clinical in its content since he had convened the legislature party meeting that would take care of the technical aspects under various provisions, including the anti-defection laws.
The MLAs were hurriedly asked to be present in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. The meeting entrusted Mr. Mani and Mr. Joseph to take an appropriate decision against Mr. George, who was not invited to it. The two leaders met Mr. Chandy at his residence to convey their decision, though officially they did not openly state it.
It is clear that Mr. George has very few supporters among his colleagues in the Assembly because they felt that he has been given a long handle for all his overarching statements against party leaders. There have been frequent demands for action against Mr. George when he came out with public pronouncements embarrassing one leader after other.
At one point of time, there was an impression that Mr. Mani was silently encouraging Mr. George when he attributed the latter’s comments to his style of articulation.
The UDF high-power Committee had earlier ruled out Mr. Mani’s resignation, but Mr. George continued with his statements embarrassing the party leadership.
Mr. George told media persons that he was not inclined to accept the decision of the legislature party meeting to which he was not invited. He said he had no difficulty in parting ways with the Kerala Congress (M).
