Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Saturday held a closed-door talk with former Finance Minister and Kerala Congress (M) chairman K.M. Mani at the latter’s residence at Pala, presumably an attempt to break the impasse in the relationship between the two parties. However, discussions remained inconclusive.
Later, speaking to mediapersons, Mr. Chandy said there was no problem which could not be sorted out through dialogue and no one had even thought of a United Democratic Front sans the Kerala Congress.
However, Mr. Mani addressing a press conference at his residence, said there were outstanding issues with the Congress. “These have to be sorted out if the Congress wanted the UDF to move forward and to strengthen the coalition.”
He said there were many opinions within the party. The party camp scheduled at Charalkunnu during the first week of August would discuss in detail the policy decisions to be taken. Further steps in this direction would be taken only after the camp, he said.
Mr. Mani, meanwhile, alleged that the Vigilance complaint filed against him was only a ploy to attract media attention.
He said the complaint made by former party activist Noble Mathew had earlier been rejected by the Vigilance court at Kottayam.
He said the then government had taken a firm stance regarding the penalty of Rs.64 crore imposed on chicken traders. The government had approached the Kerala High Court against a ruling given by the Deputy Commissioner, Commercial Taxes, for a review of the imposition of the penalty. The case was pending before the court, he said.
The other issue pertaining to the lowering of taxes for Ayruvedic medicines was taken by the subject committee concerned, he said.
These complaints were based on personal animosity and were made with the intention of creating a smokescreen, Mr. Mani said.
