Thiruvananthapuram: The UDF meeting held here on Thursday has not taken a conclusive decision on Janapaksham leader P C George's entry. What is significant is, the Congress party has not publicly spurned George's offer of cooperation.

Officially, it is now said that George had not sought an entry into the UDF. “George had sought cooperation with the Congress. So there was no need for the issue to be taken up at the UDF. George's offer will be discussed within the Congress,” opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said after the meeting.

However, inside sources said that there was near unanimity in the meeting that George should not be allowed entry into the Front. “The Muslim League and Kerala Congress (Mani) representatives were the most vocal. But even a Congress leader asked how it would be possible to share a platform with George. He told the meeting that it was George who was behind all the lies spread in the name of the solar controversy,” a UDF leader who attended the meeting said. It was Chennithala who told the meeting that the George issue be left to the Congress. Oommen Chandy was silent when the issue came up.

George told Onmanorama that he had not made any request to the UDF. “The letter I had sent was to the Congress, and in it I said that our stand was that Rahul Gandhi should emerge as the next prime minister of the country. To achieve this, I wrote in my letter that Janapaksham was willing to cooperate with the Congress,” George said. “I just don't understand why the issue was taken up at the UDF meet,” he added. He said he had sent his letter to Ramesh Chennithala, Oommen Chandy, KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran and UDF convenor Benny Behanan. “I had also talked to all of them,” he said.

George also said that he would no more associate with the BJP in the Assembly. During the last Assembly session he had announced that he would work in tandem with the BJP's lone MLA, O Rajagopal. Then, he had also hinted that the arrangement could be extended outside the Assembly, too. “But that was based soley on the Sabarimala issue. At that point, the Congress was not fully supportive of the demands of the faithful. Now they are,” George said, explaining his sudden shift in allegiance.

The UDF meeting also saw the usual seat sharing drama. The Kerala Congress (M) laid claim to three seats, and not to be left behind KC (Jacob) said they were entitled to at least one seat. The meeting decided that the Congress will hold bilateral talks with every UDF constituent before seat sharing begins in earnest.