Kerala Congress (B) leader R. Balakrishna Pillai has virtually called off the pact brokered by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala between him and his son, Forest Minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar.
He sent in his party's formal letter on Wednesday seeking the ouster of the Minister.
However, the party representatives who were entrusted with the job of submitting the letter to the Chief Minister were unable to meet him since he was preoccupied with some meetings.
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Mr. Pillai, according to sources, expressed his exasperation at the outcome of the three-point pact that had been worked out at the April 19 meeting.
The Minister had refused to comply with the terms of agreement, which included properly accommodating party workers in his personal staff.
He had also refused to work according to the wishes of the party and had refused to reconstitute the director board of corporations and committees in his charge.
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Mr. Pillai pointed out that conciliatory talks had been initiated on January 2 in the presence of Mr. Chennithala, Mr. Chandy and G. Sukumaran Nair, general secretary of Nair Service Society. But the Minister had refused to fall in line, following which discussions were further held on April 18, leading to the settlement.
Pillai's charge
Mr. Pillai maintained that the Minister had not only failed to comply with the party's directives, but had also gone to the extent of abusing senior party leaders.
With Mr. Ganesh Kumar showing no signs of giving in, Mr. Pillai has not come around to the view that the tussle with his son is an internal matter of his party.
With both the son and father on a full-blown confrontation, it appears that Mr. Pillai is getting ready to invoke the anti-defection laws to get the UDF leadership to play a proactive role in taking decisions favourable to him.
Currently, the Chief Minister is reluctant to drop Mr. Ganesh Kumar from his team.
Various attempts at bringing about reconciliation between the father and son are mainly directed at averting a piquant situation.
The main issue which the UDF leadership would have to decide is whether it should accept the norm that the party has a final say on its ministers, sources pointed out.