THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has put the state Congress leadership in a pickle. Rejecting the KPCC's demand not to participate in the Keraleeyam event, he attended a seminar. Mani Shankar also said on the stage that the KPCC president had told him not to participate in the Keraleeyam event. He participated in a seminar organized on the subject of local bodies in Kerala.

'There is no politics in the platform where panchayat raj is talked about. I came as a sign of respect to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who laid the foundation of the Panchayat Raj system, and not to Pinarayi Vijayan. It was learned that the state Congress leadership was boycotting the event just before my departure. It is assumed that the party will not expel or exile me for participating', Mani Shankar Iyer said. He also praised the Panchayat Raj activities in the state.

Mani Shankar Iyer said that Panchayat Raj activities are going well in Karnataka also and Kerala should be ready to understand the situation there. Kerala was able to reduce extreme poverty to the minimum level. He added that People's Planning in Kerala is based only on rural areas and there should be a change in that.