Ravi meets Soni to deny RSS links

Asked about RSS motives, he said: ‘‘I am also suprised. May be (it is) due to the panchayat polls in the state (due) in September, they want the Congress to be defeated by spreading such rumours to create confusion among minorities, who constitute 43 to 44 per cent of the total electorate.’’

Ravi said: ‘‘I emphatically deny that I have ever met K.S. Sudarshan. I don’t know him, he doesn’t know me…I have never sought any help from the RSS.’’ Ravi pointed out that he was not even an office-bearer in 2001 when the last Assembly polls took place in Kerala.

Later, party spokesman Anand Sharma termed the RSS claim as ‘‘baseless and preposterous.’’ He said Sudarshan had been contradicted by Kerala RSS spokesman Mohanan, who had said that the RSS chief was referring to the by-elections in 1990s.

Describing the reported RSS decision to back the Congress, Sharma said: ‘‘We don’t need their support. No Congressman would have any link with RSS. The very suggestion is baseless and preposterous. This is yet another stance of their double speak. Mohanan and Sudarshan are speaking in two different voices.’’

Irrespective of who benefited from the controversy, the ‘‘I’’ group of the Congress has surely gained.

The high command’s attention has shifted from action against the ‘‘I’’ group to damage control now.

Sharma, when asked about a possible action against the ‘‘I’’ group, said, ‘‘As far as Kerala is concerned, the attention of the party leadership has been drawn towards recent developments in the state. AICC in-charge of the state Ahmed Patel and the party leadership will take an appropriate view in this regard.’’

Sharma was evasive on the alleged inability of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and state PCC chief Thennala Balakrishna Pillai to organise rallies to counter the ‘‘I’’ group. He said the matter was receving the attention of the high command.