Udma MLA-elect Neelakandan protests after finding his CM preference not recorded

​Kasaragod: Udma MLA-elect K Neelakandan has sent emails of protest to AICC observers Mukul Wasnik and Ajay Maken after discovering that his preference for chief minister was not recorded in a document, a photograph of which was published by a newspaper on Friday.

Speaking in Kasaragod, Neelakandan said he had clearly communicated his choice when Wasnik and Maken sought the views of Congress legislators at Indira Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.

“My opinion was sought, and I clearly stated whom I preferred as chief minister. But when I saw the newspaper report, my preference was shown as blank. I do not know why my opinion was not recorded,” Neelakandan said.

Calling it an insult, he said he had sent emails to both Wasnik and Maken seeking an explanation. 

​While Neelakandan declined to reveal whom he had backed, party sources claimed he may have voted for Satheesan. This possibility has fuelled murmurs within the party about the neutrality of the observer process. The controversy erupted after a partial photograph of an internal preference sheet surfaced in the media. 

The document, which reportedly listed the preferences of seven MLAs from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram, showed the Udma MLA-elect’s name first, but with the preference column left blank. The preferences of the other MLAs on the sheet, including Congress state Sunny Joseph, were recorded, and all of them preferred Venugopal as their choice. Sulthan Bathery MLA-elect I C Balakrishnan preferred both Venugopal and Chennithala.

Sandeep Varier, whose name also appeared in the leaked list as having backed Venugopal, did not deny the report. Instead, he said the exercise reflected the "beauty" of inner-party democracy in the Congress.

The leak, however, has put both the observers and the state leadership under pressure. Sunny Joseph, whose own name appeared in the leaked document, denied its authenticity. Wasnik, too, is learnt to have dismissed the leaked sheet as unauthorised.

Meanwhile, after a rally by Congress workers in Sunny Joseph’s home constituency of Peravoor on Thursday, demanding that Satheesan be made chief minister, more flex boards and public demonstrations have surfaced across north Kerala.

The AICC has now invited Sunny Joseph, Satheesan and Chennithala to New Delhi for final consultations before announcing Kerala’s next chief minister.