Kollam: The brain, direction and script for Rahul Gandhi’s amusing ‘fishing drama” in Kollam, where he was propelled into the sea, reportedly came from MP, T. N. Prathapan. In the show, DCC President Bindu Krishna played ‘guest appearance’.
Interestingly, no Congress leaders in the district had any knowledge of drama, until when the one-man show unfolded in front of their eyes. Their prior information was limited to knowing that Rahul Gandhi would hold talks with fish workers on coasts of Wadi According to sources, the end result was a rather disappointing one , with Rahul expressing his dissatisfaction to leadership for failing to carry out talks with the fisher folks as planned.
In prelude to the stunt, TN Prathapan, who iis in charge of Fishermen Congress, camped at Kollam coast for quite some days, sizing up security, hotel arrangements and the varied angles of sea-jumping. To purport interaction with fishermen, Prathapan reportedly in consultation with Rahul, brought in people from outside the district to ask questions prepared by PR agency beforehand.
The PR agency had approached several fishermen for boat required for the show. They sought the vessel on pretext of filming for a documentary. The plan to line up 20 coastal youth to receive Rahul Gandhi too fused out in the end moment. Owing to resent among party men over Prathapan’s dictatorial style, the meeting with fisherfolks event turned out to be a low-key one. To top it all, the mike malfunctioned and Rahul abruptly winded up the event, blocking the media as he hurried past them.
There now complaints arising on huge fundraising made toward the Rahul Gandhi event. Thousands of rupees were collected from boatmen in the region. After Rahul’s departure, KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran met with DCC president following which, he visited DCC office and informed Ramesh Chennithala on wide discontent among district’s leader’s with TN Prathapan.
