The Kerala Congress (M) district wing suffered a major jolt on Tuesday with several of its leaders, including top office-bearers from both the P.J. Joseph and K.M. Mani factions, announcing that the Joseph-Mani merger was a fiasco and that they were shifting allegiance to the P.C. Thomas faction, which is currently parked with the Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Those who have decided to join the Kerala Congress (Anti-merger Group) included the Kerala Congress (M) former State General secretary Rajan Kannattu, who is also the former Chengannur municipal chairman; the party’s district secretaries Babu Kalathra and Biju Puthiyottu; district committee member and another former chairman of the Chengannur Municipality, Reji John; DC member and former municipal standing committee chairman P.P. Chandradas; DC member and also another former municipal standing committee chairman Saji Kumar; and Youth Front district secretary Kannan.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Kannattu said the merger of the Joseph and Mani factions was still a mirage, with Mr. Mani continuing to hold sway over affairs and completely ignoring Mr. Joseph’s followers. The so-called merger had only created more fissures in the party with Mr. Joseph’s faction feeling cheated, he said.
Mr. Mani’s faction was known right from inception for political deceit and it had kept up with its “tradition”, he alleged.
The leaders said that the differences got bitter during the October 2010 civic body elections when several senior leaders, including Mr. Kannattu, who was the then municipal chairman in Chengannur, was denied a seat in the elections and the Joseph faction was totally ignored in the seat-sharing process in the UDF. All these had led them to the decision to quit the Kerala Congress (M) and shift allegiance to the faction led by Mr. Thomas, they said.
