Avoid open statements or face action: Chennithala

With wordy duels continuing despite Congress President Sonia Gandhi conveying displeasure over factional tussles in the party's Kerala unit, KPCC chief Ramesh Chennithala today warned of severe action against those issuing open statements about internal affairs.
Chennithala asked all leaders to immediately stop issuing statements dragging the party's internal affairs into the public domain.
During her visit to the state capital earlier this week, Gandhi had told Chennithala and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to strike a united posture as group tussles could mar the prospects of the UDF in the Lok Sabha elections.
However, despite the message sent out by Gandhi, some of the second-rung leaders continued with their wordy duels over the party and the Government affairs.

Talking to reporters at Palakkad, Chennithala said those violating the party directive on public statements would have to face severe action.
"The party functionaries and leaders should only use the organisational forums to express their views and halt the practice of airing divergent views in public or through media," he said.

The KPCC chief's tough stand came in the wake of reports that the faction known as "I", which consist of leaders of anti-Chandy axis in the party, planning to meet the high command and complain against Home Minister Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan.
Radhakrishnan is under attack from a section in the party over the vigilance raid conducted in a depot of the Consumer Federation under Co-operation Minister C N Balakrishnan, an "I" group loyalist.

However, Radhakhrishnan had refuted the charge that the raid was conducted on his directive and it was just a "routine departmental action.