KOCHI/PATHANAMTHITTA: The tussle for control in Kerala Congress (M) took a dramatic turn on Saturday with it's working chairman P J Joseph announcing that C F Thomas would be the party’s new chairman even as Jose K Mani refuted it saying the state committee had elected him as the chairman.
The appointment of C F Thomas was announced after the KC (M) leadership meet in Kochi, which was also a show of strength by the Joseph faction. As many as 27 leaders, including Thomas Unniyadan, Joy Abraham and Monce Joseph, attended the high-level meeting. It was also the first meeting of the Joseph faction after the state committee meeting held in Kottayam on June 16 elected Jose K Mani as chairman.
After the party’s leadership meeting in Kochi, Joseph said the new chairman will be officially installed after the court issues a final order on the petition filed by the Joseph faction against Jose K Mani’s election as KC (M) chairman a few weeks ago. A Munsiff court in Idukki is expected to hear Joseph’s faction’s plea challenging the appointment of Jose as chairman on July 10.
Asked about Jose’s absence in the meeting in Kochi, Joseph said he was not responsible for inviting dissent leaders to the official meeting of the party. “In the absence of the chairman, the working chairman is the person authorised to convene meetings of the party. Other meetings organised by any other leader have no legal base,,” he said.
On the upcoming byelection in Pala, Joseph said the faction would support any leader selected by the UDF.“Even if the UDF nominates Nisha Jose K Mani (Jose’s wife) for the Pala constituency, KC (M) will support her. Also, we will give our suggestion to find a suitable candidate to the constituency when the Congress seeks our opinion on potential candidates,” he said.
Jose K Mani comes out against move
Meanwhile, addressing a party convention in Pathanamthitta, Jose K Mani said the party chairmanship could not be imposed on anyone. Instead, the chairman should be selected through a democratic process. Contesting C F Thomas’ appointment, Jose said: “the state committee had elected me as the chairman.” “Let them learn the party constitution first,” he said. “There is no post of acting chairman or working chairman in the party constitution,” Jose said.