Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president V.M. Sudheeran were among the handful of leaders who appeared before Speaker N. Sakthan on Saturday to depose against rebel Kerala Congress (M) leader P.C. George, who has been put on notice for disqualification as a legislator under the ant-defection laws.
The two Congress leaders were summoned as witnesses as per the request of Mr. George’s counsel, but both of them ended up giving evidence against him. The Speaker was to have heard four other legislators also, but only one person T.N. Pratapan turned up. The main agenda for the day was for cross-examination of Mr. George by the counsel of Kerala Congress (M) leader and Government Chief Whip Thomas Unniyadan, who had originally submitted the petition seeking Mr. George’s disqualification. But the focus shifted to Mr. Chandy and later to Mr. Sudheeran, both of whom had been summoned as witnessed as per Mr. George’s request.
Issue of whip
The questions that Mr. Chandy had to face related to mainly the issuing of whip during the Assembly session. Mr. George’s counsel, Ramkumar, wanted to know whether Mr. George had violated his party’s whip during voting on the budget. The Chief Minister said that voting did not take place owing to Opposition ruckus in the House. In reply to another question, he said that Mr. George had voted for only the UDF.
In reply to a question of Mr. Unniyadan’s counsel, Sreekumar, Mr. Chandy said he had felt that Mr. George was working against the UDF when he saw the posters and banners during the Aruvikkara by-election. He came to know about Mr. George reviving his Kerala Congress (Secular) through the newspapers.
Mr. Sudheeran was more assertive in his deposition, maintaining that Mr. George, who had entered the Assembly as a Kerala Congress (M) legislator, had worked against the UDF in Aruvikkara. This action was politically and morally unjustifiable. From Mr. George’s statements, he had always felt that he had quit his party on his own volition, Mr. Sudheeran said.
Mr. George took strong objection to Mr. Sudheeran’s stand and wanted the Speaker to declare him hostile, since he had summoned the KPCC president as a witness.
He even questioned Mr. Sudheeran’s credibility. Mr. George said the High Court was to hear his petition challenging the Kerala Congress (M) constitution. The case was coming up on October 20. In view of this, it was decided to hold the next hearing on October 26.
