Overenthusiasm to appease all those who call on him for favours and donations have landed a sitting member of the Kerala Legislative Assembly in trouble which is likely to jeopardize his prospects of fielded again in the upcoming Assembly election.
Eldhose Kunnappilli, the Congress legislator representing the Perumbavoor Assembly constituency has become a controversial figure as well as a persona non grata for a particular community in the constituency.
Though Kunnappilli, a first time legislator, with a mediocre track record over the last five years, in a bid to get re-nomination was playing all the tricks in the game, the Ram Janmabhumi Temple has become a milestone around his dreams.
A group of youngsters with the picture of the proposed Lord Rama Temple at Ayodhya went to the office of the MLA seeking donation for the construction of the temple. Kunnappilli donated Rs 1,000/- to the activists and got himself photographed with the youths, reportedly RSS activists of the area.
The photograph was beamed through an Islamic TV channel and the MLA told reporters that it was his nature to donate to all religious groups working for good causes. He said he was aware that the youths were mobilising fund for the construction of the Sree Ram temple and hence he donated the
amount.
This has snowballed into a major controversy as many religious and political outfits swearing by Islam accused the MLA of hurting the sentiments of the community. Organisations like SDPI and PFI took marches to the residence of the MLA who has remained incommunicado on the issue for the last two days.
The RSS activists led by Sree Cherai who had called on the MLA told media persons that they had briefed the latter about the purpose for which they had called on him. “The MLA himself asked his personal staff to photograpg him holding the notice seeking donations for the temple and now he is retracting because he is afraid whether it would cost him his re-nomination,” said Sree Cherai.