Kerala minister's father threatens to oust him from party

Thiruvananthapuram, March 27 (IANS) Spelling further trouble for the Oommen Chandy-led Kerala government, the father-son tussle in a constituent of the ruling alliance has exacerbated with the former Tuesday threatening to oust his son, a minister, from the party.

The standoff between state Forest and Sports Minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar and Kerala Congress-B chairman R. Balakrishna Pillai reached a new level when Pillai asserted that things have come to a stage that the party just cannot tolerate the 'whimsical ways' of his son anymore.

Ganesh Kumar refused to comment on the issue.

'If he (Ganesh Kumar) can't stand by his party, we also don't want such a person. The biggest mistake in my long political career was the decision I took to field him from the Pathnapuram assembly constituency in the last elections,' Pillai told reporters after a party meeting here.

In January this year, Pillai removed Ganesh Kumar from the post of vice-chairman of the party for failing to attend the party elections.

'We do not want a person who not only doesn't listen to the direction of the party, but also speaks low of the party. He has said that he will resign and contest as an independent candidate. The cabinet post is given to the party and not to individuals. No party can tolerate a person who does not listen to his party,' added Pillai.

Ganesh Kumar is the sole party legislator and Pillai could not contest the assembly polls last April as he was serving a year-long jail term after being convicted by the apex court.

Since his release from jail, the father and son never had the best of relations and the party also was divided between them.

Ganesh Kumar, a filmstar-turned-three-time-legislator, told reporters that he has got nothing to say on his father's statement.

In 2001, a similar tiff broke out between the father and son when A.K. Antony became the chief minister.

Then both of them were legislators and Antony opted for Ganesh Kumar for his cabinet, citing the case Pillai was facing.

After being exonerated, Pillai immediately asked his son to make way for him in the ministry and he complied.