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New role of P.C. Thomas not to make any impact: Jacob

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM MAY. 30. The Water Resources Minister and the Kerala Congress(Jacob) leader, T. M. Jacob, said that he did not share the Union Minister, P. C. Thomas' perception that his entry in the Union Council of Ministers was the beginning of a political polarisation in Kerala and the emergence of a third alternative.

Replying to questions at a Meet-the-Minister programme, organised by the Press Club and the Public Relations Department, Mr Jacob said there was no scope for a third alternative in the current bipolar politics in the State.

He did not find anything wrong in participating in receptions to honour Mr. Thomas and was not ready to read politics into it.

"We have our political differences with the IFDP of Mr. Thomas. But there is no reason from keeping away from a function to honour him as a Keralite.

Asked whether there was any possibility of a merger between his party and the Kerala Congress(Joseph), Mr Jacob said such a merger could not materialise because the two parties were lined up in different coalitions.

"It is a question of who can bell the cat. Whether we should leave the UDF or Mr. Joseph should leave the LDF. Mr. Mani's party is also facing the same predicament,'' he said.

Mr. Jacob asserted that the Coordination Committee of the KC(Jacob) and the KC(B) was alive and the two parties took positions jointly after dicussions.

With regard to his position on the RS seat issue, Mr Jacob put the blame squarely on the Congress. The allegations that his party had voted against the official candidate did not hold water and was irrelevant.

As far he was concerned, the two seats were given to the Congress. It cannot blame the coalition partners for the mess it created, he said.

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