A day after the Angamaly Assembly seat was denied to Kerala Congress (Jacob), a minor partner in the ruling UDF in Kerala, for the May 16 polls, the ally party today authorised state Food Minister Anoop Jacob to convey its "strong protest" to top Congress leadership on the issue.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the party leadership held at Muvattupuzha.
Party Chairman and senior leader Johnny Nellore said Kerala Congress (Jacob) "is in crisis" after Congress decided to snatch away the Angamaly Assembly seat from it.
"The party today authorised Minister Anoop Jacob to convey its strong protest to Congress leadership on the issue. The Congress' decision denying us Angamaly seat really pained us," Nellore, who was preparing to contest from the Angamaly seat as the UDF candidate, said after the meeting.
UDF Convener P P Thankachan had formally informed Nellore that the Kerala Congress (Jacob) should be satisfied with just one seat, Piravom, currently represented by Jacob.
Noting that the party had contested three seats, including Angamaly in the 2011 Assembly polls, Nellore said, "It is not the chairman of the Kerala Congress (Jacob) who is in crisis. Party is in crisis because of Congress' decision."
Nellore had contested from the Angamaly seat in the 2011 polls.
Earlier in the day, Nellore had come down heavily on the Congress leadership for denying Angamaly Assembly seat to the party, terming it as a "brutal cheat.
"The Congress is trying to eliminate a key UDF partner. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had given us an assurance that the party will be given another seat too. Now we feel humiliated," Nellore said today, reacting sharply to the Congress' decision to deny him ticket from the constituency currently represented by Janata Dal-Secular, an LDF partner.
The party had sought four Assembly seats, including Piravom, which Jacob successfully contested in 2011, Angamaly, Kuttanad and Udumbanchola.
