Kerala Congress (M), which has been in the vortex of a political storm following the allegations raised against its chairman and Finance Minister K.M. Mani in the bar licence bribery case, has been pushed into a major crisis by its outspoken vice chairman P.C. George, who has made it clear that he will not be a party to bring Mr. Mani’s son Jose K. Mani, MP, as his successor in case the Finance Minister decides to step down under the current political milieu.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Mr. George said there were a number of senior leaders in the party to succeed Mr. Mani to the post if the latter decided to step down. Putting on record the names of senior party leader C.F. Thomas and the sitting MLAs, Mr. George said there was no need for an MP to be made a Minister at this juncture.
‘‘It cannot be done as KC(M) was nobody’s family property,’’ Mr. George said.
To another question, Mr. George said he had joined the KC(M) not to chant ‘Jai’ for Mr. Jose K. Mani. He had never run after offices and had no godfathers.
He had joined the KC(M) under pressure from Oommen Chandy, P.K. Kunhalikutty, and Ramesh Chennithala. Even then he had not asked Mr. Mani to take him back, Instead it was Mr. Mani who had invited him to join the party, Mr. George said.
Reacting to a question, Mr. George said the bar licence issue had tarnished the image of the party and leaders were finding it difficult to face the people.
He, however, said that as vice chairman of the party, he would not ask Mr. Mani to step down.
To a question, Mr. George said he was not ready to predict as to who would present the annual budget for the year 2015-16. According to him, time has come for all the leaders to sit together and find a solution to save the party from the present crisis.