KOTTAYAM: A day after securing a clear upper hand in the factional fight within Kerala Congress (M), party working chairman PJ Joseph hit out at rival faction leader Jose K Mani, stating the latter was misleading people by wrongly interpreting the court order.
Addressing media persons in Thodupuzha on Saturday, Joseph said the Kattappana sub-court dismissed the appeal filed by Jose against the lower court order nullifying his election to the post of KC (M) chairman, which is in no way favourable to Jose. “In fact, Jose was making false claims by hiding the original comments in the order,” Joseph said.
Joseph also alleged that Jose submitted some forged documents in the courts and a case has been filed against him at the Kottayam chief judicial magistrate court for forgery. Joseph added K M Mani was a man who always kept his word. “Jose is different and does not hesitate to forge documents to gain power. Can such a man become chairman of the party? I won’t threaten anyone to be with me,” Joseph said.
Joseph, at the same time, said he would not seek any explanation from two MLAs who skipped the parliamentary party meeting. They can come back to the party after correcting their mistakes, said Joseph.
Aimed at putting pressure on the Jose faction, Joseph shot off a letter to Lalichan Kunniparambil, chairman of Changanassery municipality, asking him to honour the power-sharing pact and step down from the post. “As per agreement, you were required to resign from the chairman’s post in August. Your continuation in the post despite repeated demands amounts to violation of the party discipline,” read the letter.
The letter also warned Lalichan of stern disciplinary action if he failed to resign. According to KC (M) sources, the Joseph faction along with the opposition LDF is likely to move a no-confidence motion against Lalichan if he turns down the directive of the party’s working chairman. Of the seven councillors that the KC(M) has in the civic body, all except the current chairman owe allegiance to Joseph, they said.