Annoyed by his fulminations against its leaders, Congress today launched a counter offensive against Government Chief Whip P C George of Kerala Congress (M), holding that it was high time that the leader was reined in by his party leadership.
Firing the first salvo at the Congress (M) vice-president, KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala said George's "insulting comments" against Congress leaders had demeaned image of the UDF Government headed by Oommen Chandy and his party should restrain him from making such comments.
"Goerge should stop insulting Congress leaders. As leader of Kerala Congress (M) and a senior functionary of the UDF, Mani should restrain him," Chennithala said in a statement here.
The Congress leader was joined in the chorus by senior leader K Muraleedharan and Youth Congress functionaries asking Kerala Congress (M) leader and Finance Minister K M Mani to mandate George against making public statements which would only erode UDF's image and provide ammunition to Opposition LDF.
The immediate provocation for the Congress to slam George was insinuations by him against the state Congress leadership about the use of party funds by them.
In a sharp reaction, Youth Congress state president Dean Kuriakose made a call to "boycott" George.
"George should be restrained. He is crossing the limits of coalition decency. If he is not restrained Congress knows how to handle him," Muraleedharan told reporters.
For quite some time, George has emerged as an open critic of the Chandy Government, especially when it was under the attack from the LDF over the solar panel scam.
George justified his comments and said that he has been speaking on issues in view of the larger interests of the UDF. He also refuted the charge that his remarks gave ammunition to LDF to further its attack on the government.
