Turning around Andhra, a big challenge for Chandy
Thiruvananthapuram, June 14: Even as his former close associates P.J. Kurien and V.M. Sudheeran have gone hammer and tongs against him, former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's biggest worry now is how to revive the fortunes of his party in Andhra Pradesh as he gets ready to visit every nook and corner of the state, with the message that the good old Congress party is back.
Chandy, on Wednesday night, returned from his first visit to Andhra after taking over as the General Secretary in charge of that state.
In a chat with here, he dismissed the recent attacks by his former close associates with a smile and said things are tough in Andhra Pradesh but he has taken it as the biggest challenge of his political career.
"I spent the past two days interacting with the top and middle level leadership of the party there in groups and individually. Even though language is a slight problem, I managed it and now I will be there practically every week for a day or two as I have been given the permission to stay away from Delhi to stay put in Andhra by my president Rahul Gandhi," said Chandy.
The challenge before Chandy at present is that the Congress has just a two per cent vote share there and the two leading parties -- the ruling party, Telugu Desam Party and the principal opposition party, YSR Congress party, do not have the best of relations with the Congress party.
Keeping his cards close to his chest, the master tactician who has seen it all in his five decades of political play in Kerala, said in Andhra Pradesh, the 'Congress' party is very much there, but it is with YSR.
"I am now waiting to hear from Gandhi, who has agreed to come over to Andhra Pradesh very soon. And once he is there, I have decided to travel to every nook and corner with the message that the Congress party is back. I am hopeful of winning back the hearts of the people, who always had a soft corner for the Congress party," he said.
Meanwhile, Kurien and Sudheeran have kept up their attack on Chandy.
The duo feels that Chandy was responsible for gifting a Rajya Sabha seat to get veteran K.M. Mani, who heads the Kerala Congress (Mani), back into the Congress-led UDF.
Since then, Kurien has been fretting and fuming as he was all set to get a fourth successive term in the Upper House. So has Sudheeran, who said Chandy never cooperated with him when he was the state party president for two years starting from 2015.
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Bantwal: Seven students seriously injured as car climbs on divider, hits power pole, topples on NH
Bantwal: Seven students sustained serious injuries in an accident that reportedly occurred in Maripalla near Farangipet in the taluk as the driver of the car lost control and climbed onto a road divider before hitting a power pole installed on the divider.
The accident is said to have occurred shortly after midnight on Thursday. The injured students, including four girls and three boys, are reportedly from Udupi.
They were traveling Mangaluru to BC Road on the National Highway when the driver lost control over the vehicle, resulting in the accident. The car reportedly hit the power pole, dragged it along for a distance and then overturned on the road.
Eyewitnesses have said that the overturned car was lifted and injured students were immediately taken to the Fr. Muller Hospital in Thumday with the help of locals.
Police officers have visited the accident site and also took further action.
