MALAPPURAM/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The KPCC leadership has rubbished the claims of CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan that four Congress leaders are ready to ditch the party and join the BJP. The party top brass came down heavily against the suggestion a day after Shashi Tharoor, MP, vehemently denied the claims of the CPM leader. But a cross section of Congress leaders is peeved with KPCC president M. M. Hassan for reacting directly to the claims of Mr Kodiyeri. A senior KPCC general secretary told DC that Mr Hassan should have maintained his decorum instead of commenting that he had in fact discussed the issue with Mr Tharoor a few weeks back.

“Mr Hassan has got no right to say bluntly that he had discussed the issue with Mr Tharoor,” he said. “He is after all only a temporary party president and he aggravated the issue unnecessarily.” However, Congress MLA V. T. Balram told DC that the latest controversy on Mr Tharoor and others leaving Congress is just a ploy of the CPM to tarnish the image of the party just before the Malappuram Lok Sabha by-election. He took a dig against the CPM saying that it was their leaders V. Viswanatha Menon and later Alphons Kannanthanam who joined the BJP camp. “The latest incident shows the double game of the CPM where they are trying to target the Hindu faces of the Congress,” he said.

While addressing reporters in Malappuram, Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala said that none of the Congress leaders including Mr Tharoor will go anywhere. “The CPM is acting as a recruiting agency for the BJP. It on the one hand speaks against the fascist policy of the BJP; and on the other, tries to act as a recruiter for the BJP," a visibly agitated Mr Chennithala retorted. Later, K. Sudhakaran, the Kannur war horse and also the former MP, too, clarified that he too is not going anywhere. However, he admitted that Congress position has weakened but that doesn’t mean that he is joining the BJP.