Situation adverse for Congress, admits Chacko

Criticises the PM for failure to interact with media on various issues

Admitting that Congress was going through an adverse phase ahead of Lok Sabha elections due to various scams, senior party leader P C Chacko today criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for failure to interact with media on various issues.
"It is very unpredictable situation for Congress going into the election. We are going through adverse phase now," he said at a meet-the-press programme organised by the Ernakulam Press club here.

He said Singh was an expert in macro management. But there was some "communication gap". "He failed to interact with the media frequently," Chacko, who is the Congress candidate from Chalakudy constituency, said.

"Even though Prime minister is one of the best economists in the country, he failed to address the media properly on various issues," he said. The negative campaign against the governemnt due to the various scams, including 2G sprectrum allocation and the failure in highlighting its achievements could affect the UPA's performance in the polls, he said.

"All leaders in the party, including myself, are responsbile for this," he said.

Chacko, who was the Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee which probed the 2G scam, said when the probe report was tabled in Parliament, there was no proper discussion.

However, he said in Kerala, the wave was in favour of Congress.

On the reason for preferring Chalakudy to Thrissur, which he represented in the outgoing Lok Sabha, he said there was no particular reason for the change.

Reports about issues with 'I' faction in the Congress in Kerala was baseless. Chacko said he had earlier contested from Chalakudy and Idukki as well.