Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government's decision to appoint CPM leader A Sampath the special representative in New Delhi has angered senior Congress MPs from the state.
The MPs have made their protest public by threatening to boycott all meetings which the new appointee will attend.
In a Cabinet meeting last week, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan appointed three-time former Lok Sabha member Sampath, who lost the recent Lok Sabha polls, to liaison with the Centre in Delhi.
Senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan, who registered a handsome win at the Vadakara Lok Sabha seat, on Sunday said that Pinarayi was sidelining all the MPs who had won the recent elections with Sampath's appointment.
"This is a clear act of sidelining those who won the polls. We have nothing personal against Sampath and we wish he does not take up the post. We will not cooperate with this and in case he takes part in any meeting, we will even consider to boycott them,” Muraleedharan said. He said the party was also planning to raise the issue in Parliament.
Sampath, who was aiming for a hat-trick of wins from the Attingal Lok Sabha constituency, was defeated by Congress legislator Adoor Prakash.
Chalakudy Lok Sabha member and UDF convener Benny Behanan also echoed Muraleedharan's views. He said that the Kerala government did not consult the MPs about Sampath's appointment.
"The appointment of Sampath is nothing but an insult. We don't think there is a need to cooperate with the new appointee," Behanan said.
Earlier, Congress leaders Ramesh Chennithala and Mullappally Ramachandran had also slammed Sampath's appointment calling it a challenge to the people of the state.
The government defended the appointment saying it would help speed up implementation of centrally-sponsored projects in the state.
Sampath's appointment comes at a time when there are 33 MPs from Kerala, which includes 20 Lok Sabha MPs, nine in the Rajya Sabha, two nominated members Suresh Gopi and Richard Hay (Anglo Indian), besides Alphons Kannanthanam and Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan (both elected to the Upper House from other states).
The CPM-led Left Democratic Front suffered one of its worst electoral reverses in the parliamentary polls when it lost all but one of the 20 seats to the Congress-led UDF.
