A betrothal ceremony kicks up controversy in Kerala Congress

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The participation of former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala in the betrothal ceremony of the daughter of controversial hotelier Biju Ramesh has kicked up a row with Kerala PCC chief V M Sudheeran coming up openly against it.

Megha, the daughter of Biju, the Bar Hotel Owners' Association Working President, who had levelled bribery charges on former ministers K M Mani and K Babu in the alleged bar bribery scam, was engaged to ex-revenue minister Adoor Prakash's son Ajay Krishnan at a function here on Thursday.

Mani and Babu were ministers in the previous Congress-led UDF government.

A debate kicked up when the hotelier put a post on the Facebook thanking everyone who attended the function.

Without naming them, Sudheeran said the senior leaders should have stayed away from the function as it would send a "wrong message" in the public.

"Though marriages and betrothals are private functions, some proprieties should be followed while attending such ceremonies. Otherwise, it will give a wrong message to the public," he said here when asked about this yesterday.

He said Biju was a person who had "tainted" the image of the UDF government and put it on the "brink of a crisis."

Besides Chandy and Chennithala, several other leaders cutting across party lines attended betrothal ceremony.

Chandy and Chennithala are yet to react to the KPCC's chief's statement.